How the Tables Have Turned
by SonicZangetsu
Summary: Sephiroth lost his powers as the child of Jenova. Cloud is now the One-Winged Angel. Will Zack, Sephiroth, and Tifa be able to save Cloud from his fate or will they fall victim to his crimes? Starts out in Crisis Core and makes its way to XIII-2
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: Okay this is my very first fanfiction and I have almost no clue how to write one. Constructive criticism would be much appreciated and blah blah blah.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the whole or any part of Final Fantasy or the characters involved in this story. This story is purely a work of fiction by a fan, hence the word "fanfiction."

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~~~~~Tifa's Point of View~~~~~

"Father! Where are you? If you're there, please respond! Father!" I shouted while searching for my father.

The small town of Nibelheim was engulfed in incinerating flames. Many people lay dead with their loved ones crying at the side of their lifeless corpses. Men, women, and children; no one was spared, that is, except for the few that were fortunate enough to escape. I searched the town, calling out to him, hoping that my father was one of the few who are still alive. While searching, I came across my martial arts mentor, Zangan, who was holding an injured civilian.

"Master!" I shouted as I ran toward him.

"Tifa! What are you doing here? Get out of here now!" Zangan shouted to me, although I completely disregarded it.

"What on earth is going on here?" I asked as I finally reached him.

I looked around at the burning town for a brief moment and quickly turned to the injured man in Zangan's arms as he started to quiver in pain.

"Why did things turn out like this?" I asked no one in particular, still hoping for an answer.

"It seems like Sephiroth was behind all of this," Zangan responded.

"Huh? Sephiroth?" I paused for a brief moment, unable to believe Sephiroth was the cause of my home being set ablaze. "Impossible. Why would Sephiroth do a thing like this?" Suddenly I remembered what I was doing out on the streets to begin with. "Master, have you seen my father? He's nowhere to be found."

"Your father was at the Mako Reactor in the mountains…"

I took off in a sprint at the sound of my master's words, but before I could really get anywhere the voice of the injured man caused me to stop for a moment and listen. He admonished me not to go because Sephiroth was in the mountains, but I ignored the man's warning and continued onward toward the mountains.

"Wait, Tifa!" Zangan yelled, trying to stop me. "You can't do anything even if you go! Tifa!" I didn't want to hear that. I didn't want to hear anything. All I wanted was to find my father, so I ignored everything I heard still running toward the mountains.

After about fifteen minutes of running through the Nibelheim mountain path, I finally reached the summit and called out to my father. Upon coming closer to the mako reactor, I found a man lying down on the ground and instantly recognized him as my father. I ran to his side and put my fingers on a vein in his neck to see if he's still alive. After a moment, tears start to form in my eyes and flow out like raindrops as sadness consumes me over the death of my father. I hug his lifeless body tight to my chest as I bury my head in his own and continue to cry heart filled tears of grief and despair.

"Another survivor," a sinister and familiar voiced said.

I look up in terror and see Sephiroth at the foot of the stairs to the reactor. The countenance on his face is pure evil while grinning at the death of my father and his sword soaked in blood. He begins to walk away from the reactor toward me with the Masamune in his left hand with the full intent of killing me.

"Fear not for you shall join him very soon," Sephiroth announces.

"Sephiroth, right?" I say to my father's body. "Sephiroth did this to you, right?" I get myself up from the ground and walk around my father toward Sephiroth. "Sephiroth… SOLDIER… Shinra… Mako Reactor… I hate you all!"

I scream and charge toward Sephiroth. Sephiroth grins and raises the Masamune above his head and swings it down as I come within reach.

~~~~~Zack's Point of View~~~~~

"Tifa!" I shouted as I pushed Tifa aside and blocked Sephiroth's Masamune with my Buster Sword.

We both jumped back a few feet out of range of each other and I looked over to Tifa for a brief moment. She looked back at me and it looked like she was both surprised and angry at the same time. Of course, how could she not be angry with all that's happened so far? Her home was burned down and the famous hero, Sephiroth, killed her father all in less than a day. I couldn't help but feel like this was partially my fault. If I had watched Sephiroth more closely I could've stopped him before he'd done all of this. Nibelheim would still be standing. Everyone would still be alive. And Tifa wouldn't have to suffer like this.

"You guys came to this village just for an investigation, right?" Tifa started. "That's why I guided you guys here. It was just for that." Tears started to fall from her eyes. "But why did it turn out like this? I hate it. Shinra, SOLDIER, and you too… I hate it all."

"I'm sorry," I started. "I won't ask you to forgive me, but… let me put an end to this."

"No! I'll be the one to kill him!"

"You can't. I know you want revenge, but this isn't something you can handle."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Just let me deal with him! I'll avenge everyone."

"How can I trust someone like you? You're just like him!"

I didn't know how to respond to her. So I said the only thing I could. "Because I'm here protecting you now."

"Stupid."

With that I refocused my attention on Sephiroth. "Sephiroth!" I yelled. "Why did you kill the villagers? Why did you burn down the town? Answer me, Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth started to chuckle, which surprised me a bit, but also angered me. Did he think this was funny? Was killing innocent people amusing to him? I needed to know why he did all of this.

"Why?" Sephiroth asked. "Mother was supposed to become the ruler of this planet with her superior power and knowledge. But those fools… those worthless fools snatched this planet away from her."

"What the hell happened to you, Sephiroth?" I didn't understand what he was talking about. All I knew was that I had to put an end to this.

"You traitor," he whispered.

In an instant, Sephiroth was at point-blank range with his sword approaching horizontally at my neck. On reflex, I ducked and swung the Buster Sword upward and deflected the attack. Sephiroth back flipped away to reduce the impact of my attack and charged at me again, this time with a downward, vertical attack aimed at my head. I position the Buster Sword above my head horizontally to block his attack. My next move would've been to knock him back and go on the offensive, but he was putting a ton of pressure on me that it took most of my strength just to keep the Buster Sword above me to stop the Masamune from splitting my head in half. During the stalemate I felt Sephiroth relieve some of the pressure off me, not enough to go on the offensive, but enough to know I can push him off of me. And at the very instant I though that, I felt his foot slam into the side of my right ribcage and I flew straight towards one of the pipes leading to the reactor. I recovered fairly quickly and rebounded off the pipe back at Sephiroth with a horizontal slash. To my dismay, he swung his sword upward knocking the Buster Sword out of my hands, wrapped his hand around my throat, and slammed me into the ground. As if that wasn't bad enough, he thrust the Masamune through my stomach pinning me to the ground.

The pain was unbearable. The Masamune's hilt was about a foot away from my stomach. I started to cough up blood while Sephiroth stood over me grinning at his accomplishment.

"I was the chosen one," I heard Sephiroth say. "I am the chosen existence that is to become this planet's ruler. In order to return this planet from you fools to the hands of the Cetras, I was born… for mother's sake," he said as he walked away.

I can't lose here. I was supposed to protect Tifa. I told her I would avenge Nibelheim. I was starting to lose consciousness.

"Sephiroth!" I heard Tifa say. "How could you? You'll pay for this!"

"Tifa," was all I could say before everything faded to black.

~~~~~Sephiroth's Point of View~~~~~

This girl was proving to be quite irritating. This is the second time she has delayed me from reaching mother. I will not have any more interruptions.

"You won't beat me so easily without your sword," the girl says.

"Fool. Do you really think I need a weapon to dispose of you?" I asked as I started to walk towards her.

"Don't underestimate me!" she cried as she rushed toward me.

She attacked with a palm thrust at my head, but the speed of it was far too slow and I caught her wrist in the middle of it. She squirmed to get free so I granted it to her by punching her gut, sending her flying to the same pipeline I sent Zack to. The impact made a sound similar to that of a gong, only with less pitch. She fell to the ground and stayed there for a moment, but I knew that it wasn't enough to kill her. She finally rose slowly from the ground, clearly injured from that impact, and coughed up a little blood.

"I'll beat you," she mumbled. "I'll beat you if it's the last thing I do!"

She rushed at me again, this time jumping in the air and preparing a kick. I favored a counter and extended my left leg upward for it to get well acquainted with her face, but she landed earlier than I anticipated and tripped me with a quick leg sweep. She spun around while bent down on her right knee before I fell completely and quickly jumped up, bringing her right foot forward to meet my own face launching me a fair distance away from her. I recovered partway through the air and landed on my feet. She was lunging at me for a tackle, but having learned my lesson the first time I knew it was a fake. She landed with a roll and finished with an upward kick, which I easily dodged and grabbed leaving her hanging by her leg.

"Enough," I said coldly.

I swung her around in a circle through the air twice getting enough momentum before slamming her body facedown in the cold dirt. I stepped on her right shoulder and pulled the arm that was connected to it back until that was no longer the case. She screamed and writhed in agony over a broken arm, although that was the least of her worries. I flipped her on her back and wrapped my hand around her throat while lifting her in the air until our eyes were aligned with each other. She opened her mouth to say something, but I guess my hand on her throat prevented her from doing so. I punched her in the gut repeated a few times until I saw tears fall from her eyes. Feeling accomplished at making her submit, I decided to celebrate by punching her in the face until she was a bloody mess. Unfortunately, she was not as tough as Zack Fair and lost consciousness after the seventh punch. I released her assuming she was dead and went inside the mako reactor to retrieve mother. Moments later, I made my way to the heart of the reactor where Mother was kept and saw her prison.

"It's alright now, Mother. Please don't be sad anymore. Come with me." I tossed the giant mechanical replica that impersonated Mother into the reactor and saw her for the first time with my own eyes. "We finally meet, Mother."

I break the glass and rip her head from the machine, freeing her from her horrible prison. Upon exiting the heart of the reactor, an infantryman stands at the bottom of the stairs holding the Buster Sword.

"Give them back. My mother, Tifa, and my village!" the blonde said. "I respected you and admired you, but…"

"They came back, Mother. How should we dispose of this one?" I asked Mother.

"Sephiroth!"

The blonde rushes toward me screaming in a fit of rage thrusting the sword at me. I simply move to the side as he runs past me. He mindlessly comes back and before he has the chance, I punch him in the face, forcing him to drop the Buster Sword and watch him roll toward the edge of the platform. That is when I had the brilliant idea of throwing him into the mako reservoir. He gets back up and charges at me again with a shoulder rush. As soon as he got to me I kicked his face sending him soaring of the edge of the platform, but before he fell I saw something in his hand and that's when I realized he took Mother. I reached for Mother as she fell off the ledge, but it was too late. Mother had disappeared into the mako.

"Mother…" I cried. "Mother… Mother… Mo-," My mind went blank in an instant. _Who is Mother?_ I wondered. Suddenly a sharp pain pierced my chest.

"Die," a female voice muttered. "For all the pain you've caused us today."

I felt life leave my body. The last thing I heard was a thud on the floor behind me. My vision blurred and I lost consciousness shortly after.

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**Author's Note (Again):** So yeah I'm think I ended it a little too abruptly sooo yeah, I'm sorry for that. Also I apologize for anyone who took offense to Cloud's death, but if you support this story then he'll come back more badass than ever.

Also I'm not too sure about the rating. It may change later but for now it's going to be a "T" rated story

Please review and if you actually decide to, then no flaming (not that I can stop you but whatever)


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** _Italicized Words = Flashbacks_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the whole or any part of Final Fantasy or the characters involved in this story. This story is purely a work of fiction by a fan, hence the word "fanfiction."

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~~~~~Zack's Point of View~~~~~

_"You call yourself SOLDIER?" a familiar voice asks. My vision was starting to come back to me, but all I could see at the moment were radiant white angel wings. "You tarnish the SOLDIER name!" I finally saw him. _

_"Angeal!" I called out to the man on the other side of the glass. I tried my hardest to break through the invisible solid prison that separated Angeal and I. "Wait!" Without so much as a care about me he turned around and flew off. I remember being in a place of peace. A peaceful blue sky and a peaceful lake. A brilliant white feather floated down from the sky and landed next to me in the reflecting lake. I look up at the free sky thinking of Angeal while envy consumes me. "Those wings… I want them too." A brief moment later my peaceful world had shattered before my eyes._

I woke up on a floor sprinkled with glass. I got myself to my feet and noticed a Shinra scientist standing next to me. I ran up and gave one good punch to the face to knock him out, seeing how if I didn't, he would've called for help. How did I get here anyway?

_I screamed at the top of my lungs in agony as my stomach had suffered more pain than what Sephiroth had done. "I'm sorry, Zack," a girl said to me. I opened my eyes enough to see Tifa standing over me holding the Masamune in her hand. What happened to her? She was so brutally beaten I almost didn't recognize her. "I'll be the one to kill Sephiroth." I reached out and muttered her name, as she turned to limp away toward the reactor._

Tifa! Looking behind me, I saw three human test tubes. One was broken which I assumed was the one that I was in and the one beside mines contained a woman strangely familiar. Walking up to it for a closer inspection, I realized it was Tifa. I pushed the release button on the side of the tube and the door opened after all of the mako had drained. She fell right into my arms as I caught her and sat her down next to a table in the middle of the room. I had to get her out of here to some place safe. I scanned the room for the Buster Sword hoping, by extreme luck, it would be somewhere close. Lady luck was on my side as I saw that it was lying against the test tube I was in.

Something was still bothering me. I had the Buster Sword and I had Tifa. What was I forgetting? I looked around for something that seemed to need my attention when the third test tube caught my eye. Who or what could be in this one? As I made my way over to it I found my answer.

"Sephiroth," I mumbled to myself. He was alive, regaining his strength inside a mako chamber. I should kill him right now just to make sure there won't be another incident like Nibelheim.

_"This one… take him down to Shinra Mansion's basement too," said an irritatingly familiar voice. "Sephiroth… you've surely done it this time. Hm? Just wait a second. This girl finished him, huh? Interesting. This is really interesting. I can use her as a new sample."_

Wait a second. This is the human research lab Sephiroth shut himself in for a week… and Hojo sent us here after the Nibelheim incident. I've always hated the guy. He treats everyone like they're just tools and objects for his research. No one, not even Sephiroth, deserves to suffer through any of his experiments. I press the release button on the side of Sephiroth's pod and after the mako drains, the door opens and he falls to the floor.

"Never again," I tell him. "This is the last favor I do for you. You may be a monster, but you're still human. Just remember… that if you hurt another innocent soul… I'll do whatever it takes to kill you myself." With those last words, I pick up Tifa bridal style and exit out the large steel door from the lab.

"Tifa, I'm going to scout ahead to make sure it's safe. I'll be back soon, okay." I sat Tifa down on ground next to door we just came through. As promised, I scouted the area up to the bedroom of Shinra Mansion for any threats and went back to get Tifa after assuring that the way was clear. When we got to the bedroom I laid Tifa down in the bed to try and make her comfortable. I did my usual routine of promising her that I'll go make sure the way was clear, actually go and scout ahead, and come back to get her when I knew it was safe.

After a while we finally made it to Nibelheim and I sat her down against the side of a house and noticed that something was off. There was a house here. What's going on? I saw the town reduced to ashes, but now it's back to the way it was before. In the distance I saw a group of people running toward us.

"It's a breakout!" shouted an infantryman. "The professor's test samples are escaping!"

"It'll take a lot more than you're average grunt to take me down," I responded as I took the Buster Sword off my back. More and more infantrymen surrounded us and I started to get worried. I turned around to face Tifa and saw one of them start to drag her away. This is bad. I have to take care of them quickly. I'm not going to get caught again.

As I engage to fight them, I notice that I'm slower for some reason. Not only that, but I also feel weaker. Group after group, infantrymen started arriving as reinforcements and it seemed like every shot they fired was getting closer to hitting me. This can't be right. How can I be having trouble against these guys?

~~~~~Sephiroth's Point of View~~~~~

_"Never again," an acquainted voice says. "This is the last favor I do for you. You may be a monster, but you're still human. Just remember… that if you hurt another innocent soul… I'll do whatever it takes to kill you myself."_

Zack. I chuckle to myself a little before pushing myself to my feet off of the floor I was lying on. Looking around, I noticed I was back in the Shinra Mansion basement. Hojo must've brought me here. There was a document by the examination table in the middle of the room and I was curious as to what the professor was doing to me while I was decommissioned.

It read, "Analysis of Sample Results.

Case #1 Failed: SOLDIER 1st Class, Sephiroth Crescent. Summary: All Jenova cells have disappeared. Mass mako fusion with subject's body has not restored SOLDIER 1st Class abilities.  
Case #2 Failed: SOLDIER 1st Class, Zack Fair. Summary: Transfer of mako energy to Sephiroth not possible. SOLDIER conditioning has been made permanent with DNA.  
Case #3 Succeeded: Female Civilian. Summary: Mako infusion was successful and has increased physical abilities to reach SOLDIER 2nd Class expectations."

Impossible. My thoughts traveled back to the tour guide who led us to the mako reactor. He turned that girl into a SOLDIER? And this analysis of Zack and I. My Jenova cells have disappeared? Zack's mako transfer failed? I needed to find out more about the experiments performed on us.

"H-he's awake!" a Shinra scientist yelled. "Backup's not going to make it in time."

On instinct, I jumped over the table and pinned the scientist to the wall. "What backup?" I demanded.

After forcing what quick little information I could from him, I rushed and gathered the Masamune from a near corner, along with whatever documents I could before knocking out the scientist and rushing out of Shinra Mansion. Once I was finally outside the gate of the mansion gunshots echoed through the air from the direction of the town. Zack. Why was I so concerned with Zack all of a sudden? Is it because he freed me from the mako chamber? Is it because of my concern over the experiments performed on all of us? I was uncertain.

By the time I was pulled out of my thoughts by the task at hand I was already at the center of town where Zack was fighting a platoon of infantrymen. Also, one infantryman in particular was dragging away a woman in a cowgirl outfit. Identifying her as our escort that guided us to the reactor, I ripped my way through the group of enemies past Zack and decapitated the man dragging her away.

"Sephiroth!" yelled Zack.

"You fool! You were supposed to protect her!" Why did I snap at Zack that way? She was never important to me, but for some reason I felt obliged to protect her.

"Kill them!" ordered one infantryman.

The fools. With both Zack and my own power combined, those insects didn't stand a chance. They were all dead in under a minute. I walked over to the girl and picked her up, carrying her bridal style in my arms as I headed toward Shinra Mansion, but a certain "puppy" stood in my way glaring at me.

"Move," I ordered.

"First explain to me why you-," Zack began with a hint of anger.

"The enemy is after us. If you want to stand around talking until we have another confrontation on our hands, you can do it alone. Or, if you prefer, we can return to the mansion and discuss matters there where she isn't as prone to kidnapping as out in the open like you left her." We exchange glares for a brief moment as if he was thinking of some sort of response in the process of trying to intimidate me. He finally looked down with a sigh and stood aside letting me pass. "I thought so."

When we arrived back at the mansion, I laid the girl in a bed on the upper floor and sat in a chair across the room, facing Zack.

"Well?" he asked with that same hint of anger as earlier.

"Calm down," I stated. "First things first. This girl-"

"Tifa."

"Pardon?"

"Her name is Tifa."

"My apologies. Tifa seems to be suffering from mako addiction. I found these reports in the lab basement." I handed the documents from my coat pockets to him.

"Then we should give her a change of clothes."

"Hm?"

"Those mako soaked clothes will definitely not help her on her road to recovery," he said as he made his way to the closet. "I found something good back here. It may not smell very good, but we can't be too picky right now."

"Good observation. You're not as helpless as I was led to believe." Zack took out a SOLDIER 1st Class uniform from the closet and sat it on my lap as he proceeded to walk out the room. "I'm going to keep watch. Good luck, boss."

I watched as he grinned and closed the door behind him as he left wondering what he meant. Then it hit me. Blood rushed to my face as I looked over at Tifa and saw the task Zack left me. He wants me to redress her. "Zack!" I roared as I ran to the door and tried to open it, but for some reason it wouldn't budge. Then a note was slipped under the door. I picked it up and read aloud to myself, "I already have a girlfriend and I can't betray her like that. Anyway, this should be a piece of cake for the great general, Sephiroth." I clenched the note in my hand out of frustration as I thought back to what I had to do. With one deep breath I accepted this task with full responsibility and confidence.

After for what seemed like the most tedious fifteen minutes of my life, I throw myself in the chair across the room and sigh, finally having completed the commission of redressing her. And almost on cue, Zack enters the room with that usual smug look on his face.

"Wow," he started. "You actually did it. I guess I can finally rest assured that you've returned to your old self." I completely ignored him for the time being until he got serious. "Sephiroth," he continued in a more solemn tone. "What happened to you at Nibelheim?"

"Did you read the documents I gave you earlier?" I asked.

"Yeah, it said that yours and all the spare Jenova cells Professor Hojo had suddenly disappeared. But what is Jenova?"

"She's my mother, an alien from another planet whose cells were implanted in me before I was born. She's also the entity that possessed me to slaughter everyone in Nibelheim. I assume that since she's dead, I have control over myself again. It is believed that when she disintegrated into the mako reactor, so did all of her cells worldwide, which is why I assume I have full control of myself again. I never wanted to kill anyone, Zack. I was forced. I understand if you still hate me-"

"I don't hate you," I looked to him, flabbergasted to say the least. "You saved me and Tifa against those guys back in town. I think you just want to say you're sorry to us."

"You're still just a puppy. If it was as simple as apologizing, I would've already done it, but… what I did was something you cannot simply apologize for."

"Well I guess you'll just have to start all over then, huh?"

"What?"

"You're going to live the rest of your life helping us until we can find it in our hearts to forgive you."

"Try telling her that after she wakes up," I finished, motioning to Tifa. This was going to be the worst journey of my life.

~~~~~Zack's Point of View~~~~~

I reached in my pocket for my phone to try and find out where we should go, but instead, I pulled out a shriveled up piece of paper. What was this?

_"They're tiny, but you have lots, right?" I asked._

_"That's right," Aerith responded. "Wanna hear?"_

_"How many you got?"_

_"Hm… twenty… three?"_

_"Write them down, so I don't forget."_

_"I have twenty-three tiny wishes. But you probably won't remember them all, so I put them all together in one: I'd like to spend more time with you._

That moment. How could I forget? "Sephiroth."

"What is it?" he asked.

"I… I have to go to Midgar."

"Midgar? I didn't know you were so eager to die."

"Please, Sephiroth. I have to go." He paused for a while before answering.

"Very well. We'll rest until nightfall and depart at midnight."

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**Author's Note:** Um okay. I pretty much rushed through this chapter because my brain was moving a lot faster than I was typing, which caused me to forget what I had planned later on so yeah, sorry if it moved by too quickly, and I sincerely apologize for any/all OOC moments I may have/definitely created.

Also, I was debating should I write a scene out where Sephiroth actually redresses Tifa, but that would require intense mental preparation and as I said before, my brain was moving a lot faster than my fingers. But if you would like me to, I will update this chapter with the redressing scene worked into it.

Also (again), I really don't feel like going all the way through Crisis Core plot with Sephiroth along with Zack until the final battle against the Shinra army. I just want to skip all that and go to the cliff outside of Midgar because that's where my brain is right now. But if you think it'll be interesting then leave a review about what you think I should do.

Please review


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the whole or any part of Final Fantasy or the characters involved in this story. This story is purely a work of fiction by a fan, hence the word "fanfiction."

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~~~~~Zack's Point of View~~~~~

Boy how time flies. It's already been a year since Sephiroth, Tifa, and I escaped the Shinra Mansion basement. We've been evading and confronting the Shinra army ever since we left Nibelheim, seeing as how we're all "fugitive samples." Along the way to Midgar, we discovered that five years have passed after the day everything went wrong at Nibelheim. Tifa still hasn't recovered from her mako addiction, but neither Sephiroth nor I are remotely close to abandoning her. We promised each other that we would both protect her even after she wakes up so Sephiroth could finally apologize for what he's done. Although I still haven't completely forgiven him for what he did, especially killing Cloud, it seems like we've improved from our normal relationship when we were a part of SOLDIER.

Speaking of which, we learned that Genesis, Hollander, and Lazard all degraded while we were out of commission in Hojo's lab. It was a surprise to me learning that Director Lazard had any part of the degradation process. I heard that with his death, SOLDIER was shut down and the Shinra army only consists of infantrymen as regular soldiers. Apparently everyone was afraid of there being another Nibelheim incident, so President Shinra ordered the army to wipe out all of the remaining 2nd and 3rd Class SOLDIER operatives. I can't believe they actually succeeded in wiping out all of SOLDIER.

Since then the army hasn't been letting up on trying to kill us and the Turks sure aren't making our situation any easier, that is, except for Cissnei. We came across each other only twice and both times she let us walk free. She lied to Tseng saying she lost us the second time we met her, and she even gave us the keys to her motorbike. At least someone is looking out for us in all of this mess.

"Get down!" On Sephiroth's order I shielded Tifa and ducked to avoid whatever danger was coming our way. "A sniper." We were on the back of a kindhearted man's flatbed truck, hitchhiking our way to Midgar through the middle of the wasteland. "Drop us off over by the rocks."

Once we were in a partially safe spot protected by some rocks I picked up Tifa, jumped off the truck, and sat her down in a corner. Sephiroth started talking to the driver while I stared at Tifa with a smile, thinking this would be my last time seeing her face. I rubbed her hair in a playful manner a little bit until the driver pulled off.

"Zack," Sephiroth started. "Let's go." And with those words we walked off into the open, leaving Tifa to the safety of her small shelter, to confront what would probably be our final battle.

Waves upon waves of soldiers occupied the land as the roars of helicopter blades echoed through the air. The sky seemed to be filled with as many helicopters as a flock of Red-billed Queleas.

"Boy oh boy," I complained as I shook my head. "The price of freedom is steep."

"Too much to handle?" Sephiroth taunted.

We both drew our weapons and Sephiroth took his combat stance while I lowered my head and held the Buster Sword in front of me.

"Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honor… as SOLDIER!" Sephiroth and I charged into the horde of soldiers and proceeded to fight to our last breath. "Come and get it!"

The front lines unleashed a volley of bullets at me while the helicopters fired a barrage of missiles at Sephiroth. Skillfully dodging all of the sluggish bullets, I ripped through the first twenty soldiers in an instant with a few quick slashes. As I looked over to where Sephiroth was fighting, two helicopters were already on their way spiraling towards the ground. Obviously he doesn't need my help. I hopped in into the middle of a squad armed with machine guns and took out about five that were within reach. I shoved the blade of the Buster Sword in the ground beside me and stood there waiting for the enemy to make their mistake.

"Open fire!" one very stupid commander ordered.

Big mistake. As the not too smart soldiers opened fire on me, I gracefully maneuvered around each and every bullet without so much as a scratch. Left and right soldiers missed and were shooting their comrades around me while being shot by another comrade. I'm just practicing my gymnastics while they take each other out.

"Idiots! Cease fire!" the commander ordered. "You're just shooting yourselves! Engage in close combat!"

I could've just fought without my sword, but I needed them dead as quick as possible. So I pulled my sword out of the ground and took up my stance. It seemed as if every enemy that came my way with a melee weapon only wanted to swing once without hitting me and die, because that happened every time. But this was taking too long. I was only killing about two people per swing. Then I noticed the area around me getting darker for some reason and an annoying buzzing sound. After looking towards the sky, my immediate response was to run. A helicopter was on a crash course toward me because the blades on the top of it were missing thanks to a certain silver-haired general. The copter crashed into the group of soldiers that previously surrounded me in an explosion killing them all.

He may be a bit radical, but Sephiroth knows how to cover for a friend, even if it means throwing a helicopter at them. But come to think of it, this is the strongest I've ever seen Sephiroth while fighting, more so than six years ago in Nibelheim.

"_The reports were inaccurate," Sephiroth started to explain. "They said that my Jenova cells disappeared and decreased my strength, but they weren't what led me to SOLDIER 1st Class."_

"_Really?" I asked. "Then what was it?"_

"_Jenova's cells never gave me any additional power, just a link for her to control my mind. I attained my rank through my display of hard work and discipline. I just happened to reach 1st quicker than anyone else because they did not stress the importance of their duty."_

As I fought, I remembered that conversation between Sephiroth and I. He became strong because he had mastered discipline and focused on the mission, while I just played around and tried to impress Angeal. But this time I have a mission worth fighting for. I have to survive this battle in order to save Tifa and I also have to see Aerith, even if it's just a moment with her. I'll grant her wish whatever it takes. I won't lose here!

~~~~~Sephiroth's Point of View~~~~~

This battle was getting more and more tedious by the hour. Zack finally began fighting seriously after I sent that helicopter his way, but we are both reaching our limits. Although periodically he would exceed my expectations and mimic one of my, Genesis, or Angeal's attacks, he was still continuing to take damage from the enemy, which would ultimately weaken the amount of damage he dealt. It had me concerned about our victory, but at least he was still fighting. It brought a smile to my face to see him grow up from the "puppy" Angeal sheltered to the warrior who carried on my best friend's legacy and didn't end up like the traitor who sought revenge on the world or the psychopath that destroyed Nibelheim.

Although, this is the only time I regret not having my Jenova cells. I could use magic at will instead of having to use materia to annihilate my foes as well as heal myself. I've never use it out in the open, only in special situations if I didn't have the cure materia and was out of sight of my allies. I even use that power to enhance to power and durability of the Masamune, making it virtually indestructible and able to cut through almost anything it touches.

I remember telling Zack that the Jenova cells did nothing to raise me to the rank of SOLDIER 1st class, but it was only to encourage him to steel himself and try harder. This past year was something he needed a solid resolve to endure. When the entire Shinra army and Turks are after you, you need to be at your best and fight every battle as if it's your last.

After half a day, we were finally down to our final enemies: three soldiers and a single helicopter. Both Zack and I were severely injured. I collapsed from exhaustion and sustained damage those bastards managed to inflict. Zack seemed as if he could drop dead any second. The helicopter flew over and passed us, turning around to face us from off the edge of the cliff, while the three soldiers walked up to Zack with their guns in hand. They were just toying with him. They ran up to him each giving a single punch to him while avoiding the incredibly slow, generic attacks he tried to hit them with. After they were satisfied, they walked back into a group and aimed their guns at Zack and opened a barrage of bullets on him, dropping him to the ground.

One soldier walked over to him and aimed a gun at his head. I would not allow this to happen. He wanted to protect Tifa. He wanted to spend more time with his lover in Midgar.

"_Boy oh boy," Zack said. "The price of freedom is steep."_

Zack. Allow me to cut that price down for you. With the very last ounce of strength coursing through my veins, my body reacted automatically. In one swift motion I sprinted off the ground and guillotined each individual limb off the man hovering above Zack. As I rushed toward the other two soldiers, they emptied their guns of ammunition, all of which hit their target, but did not stop me. I ran past both of them slicing their bodies clean in half with a grin on my face, knowing there was only one thing left to do.

Holding the Masamune like a javelin, I turn around and launch it through the windshield of the final helicopter killing the pilot, sending the aircraft in a tailspin off the side of the cliff exploding on contact with the ground below.

"Now… we can finally… rest." My body had endured all it could take and fell back to the cold, hard ground where I closed my eyes to finally rest.

~~~~~Tifa's Point of View~~~~~

"_Zack," Sephiroth started. "Let's go."_

Please don't die. Please don't die. Please don't die. Those were the only words running through my mind as I stumbled through the unwavering rain over to the edge of the cliff where Zack laid.

"Zack," I cried when I finally reached him.

I fell to my knees and tears started to form within my eyes, although from a mirror's perspective it would look like I was already crying. I buried my head in his chest and suddenly realized that Zack was still breathing.

"Zack!" I said overjoyed. "Hang on. I'm going to get you out of here. We'll find a doctor in Midgar and get you all fixed up."

I lifted Zack by his shoulders and started to drag him away, still hoping that by some miracle he could actually survive this. As I dragged him away, a bright light formed itself of the edge of the cliff, revealing a… giant raindrop… statue thing… after it dissipated. An aura was emitting from the quickly rotating orb in the middle of it. Wait a minute. I don't have time to worry about this. I had to get Zack to a doctor.

"Oh my gosh," said a female voice. "What is this place?"

I looked up to see two people, a young man and woman, standing beside the raindrop statue.

"Looks like a war was recently held here," said the man.

"But who were they fighting? Everybody's wearing the same uniform."

"Everybody except one." The young man walked over to the area where I picked up Zack and held someone. "Hey. Are you okay?"

"…Zack…"

My blood boiled and my body cringed at the sound of his voice. He couldn't still be alive. I killed him back at Nibelheim. The young man threw the injured man's arm around him for support and lifted him up on his feet. I dropped Zack the instant I saw the monster's face. Sephiroth.

"Get away from him!" I yelled focusing their attention on me. "Just let him die!"

"Who are you?" the girl asked. "And what do you mean just let him die? Who is he?"

"He's a murderer!" I noticed the girl looked down at Zack with a worried look. "Please. Help him. He's my friend.

"Of course."

The woman walked over to us and bent down to get a look at him. She waved her hand sending out a bright light that floated into Zack making the wounds on his body start to rapidly heal. It reminded me a lot of the effects the cure materia had. Wait, how was she using magic without a materia? I decided not to question it, as long she was willing and able to help Zack recover from his injuries.

"It's all right," the girl said in a warm voice. "He should be fine now."

Zack slowly opened his eyes and sat up on the ground looking around at the scenery. He finally turned towards me and his eyes opened wider as he embraced me for a tight hug.

"Tifa," he said with a hint of relief. "You're finally awake. I can't believe it."

"Hey, don't forget about this one," the young man said still carrying that monster.

"I told you, he's-," I started.

"Sephiroth," Zack finished.

He got up and ran over to Sephiroth like he was actually concerned for him.

"Sephiroth?" the girl asked. "So that's Sephiroth. So that would mean you're Zack."

"Yeah. I don't know who you are but you saved me right? If that's the case, then could you help my friend?"

Friend? What was he saying? Sephiroth is his friend?

"Sure," the girl said as she got up and walked over to heal… no.

"No… No…. No. No! No! No! No!" My voice increased with each passing word. I lost control of my emotions. "What the hell are you saying, Zack? Help Sephiroth? He destroyed Nibelheim! He slaughtered the villagers! He killed my father! He tried to kill us both! And you want to let him live?"

Zack didn't say anything. He just stared at the ground.

"Serah," the young man stated.

The girl nodded and used the same spell she used to heal Zack on Sephiroth. I watched in misery and grief as the wounds on Sephiroth's body began to heal. His scars were beginning to disappear and his flesh started to regenerate. Within seconds, the monster that took everything away from me was completely revived while I was unable to do anything about it and Zack refused to do anything about it. I knew I couldn't trust SOLDIER.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So I'm not all that confident about this chapter. I think I really messed up on Sephiroth and Tifa's POV, but I guess I'll find out how I did later… if you guys leave a review.

Anyway I feel like I should give credit to my inspiration, AbyssKeeper, since the whole Sephiroth redemption thing and Point of View idea came from reading his story. If you like Sephiroth and Lightning, I suggest you check out his current fics "One Winged l'Cie" and "Daughter of an Angel." I just got excited because he reviewed my story, which means I might post faster :D

So yeah, as usual, leave a review if you feel like it


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the whole or any part of Final Fantasy or the characters involved in this story. This story is purely a work of fiction by a fan, hence the word "fanfiction."

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~~~~~Sephiroth's Point of View~~~~~

"_She'll wake up one day," Zack said looking back on the ground where Tifa sat. "And when she does, I'll be right there beside you."_

"_I appreciate the sentiment," I argued. "But I'm not a child. I don't need your help smoothing over complications with her."_

_We were in Banora taking a break from our pursuers. Zack wanted to stop by the place Angeal grew up before going to Midgar, but I saw it as a place where Genesis lost his life. It was on Shinra news that he had his last breaths in a cave somewhere deep in the mountains and that the only thing they found was his rapier and a Banora White, of course along with a perfect copy of "Loveless."_

"_Hey Sephiroth," Zack started. "Do you miss them?"_

"_Hmph. They got what they deserved… but…"_

A warm, soothing light pulled me out of my memories and back into reality. I awoke leaning on a complete stranger in the middle of the rain on the very same cliff I thought I lost my life. Upon closer inspection, the stranger was a young boy wearing rather unusual clothing and a young girl wearing even stranger clothing casting a cure spell on me. Aside from her amazingly unique hair color, which could best be described as a sort of mixture between a type of strawberry dye and chocobo feathers, I noticed she was using a healing spell on me without the use of a materia. From experiences of doing this myself, I could only assume that she had been infused with Jenova cells, yet she seemed like a perfectly ordinary young girl.

"Hey buddy," said the boy. "You feeling okay?"

I took my arm from around him after the girl had finished healing me and nodded in response.

"Well that's good," Zack started.

He was completely healed, by the strawberry blonde haired girl I assume, although he seemed troubled by something. I looked past him to see the scariest countenance on the face of a woman I had ever seen in my life. It would've been more fortunate for me to actually die a few moments ago than confront her with any words, let alone an apology for ruining her life.

"Let's go to Midgar. This is too depressing a spot to talk." Zack walks over to Tifa to offer his hand. "Can you walk?"

She looked away and lifted herself off the ground, with some difficulty, and turned to walk, or rather limp, away leaving Zack with mixed feelings. Honestly, I thought that was the best possible response he could have received given the situation. If it had been me to attempt that, I probably would've lost my arm. The young girl ran up to Tifa and offered her support to help her walk, which was well received and with that we all made our way to Midgar.

Gaining entry into Midgar was unexpectedly unproblematic. The citizens didn't seem to notice that two former 1st Class SOLDIER members who were announced dead were roaming the streets among them. We were essentially following Zack since it was his idea to travel here to see his girlfriend. I was no longer the five-star general the world once revered as a hero. I was now a fugitive running from the very army I had served under and led for years. There was no reason for me to refuse Zack's notion of wanting to come here since everywhere we went was no longer safe.

He soon led us to an abandoned church within the Sector Five slums. I noticed that near the front of the church there was a flowerbed. It was quite the surprise seeing as how during our entire trip through the slums there was no sign of vegetation surviving down here, especially within an abandoned building. Our party had split once we were inside. I occupied a seat in the back row, the two females went to examine the flowerbed, the male stranger walked around taking in the scenery, and Zack simply stood at the front of the church filled with nostalgia.

"Aerith!" Zack shouted gaining everyone's attention. "You here? Aerith!"

No one responded.

"Who's Aerith?" the young girl asked. It was getting uncomfortable letting random strangers accompany us for this long.

"My apologies, but," The instant I opened my mouth I felt Tifa's death glare stab me through the heart. I quickly, but casually, averted my eyes away from her direction to the male guest on the other side across the church. "While we appreciate you saving our lives, may I ask why you are still accompanying us?"

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," the female said. "We never introduced ourselves. I'm Serah, Serah Farron and this is my companion, Noel."

"Noel Kreiss," said the male. "Sorry for not speaking up earlier, but believe it or not, we're on business here."

"Oh?" I asked out of curiosity. "And what might that be?"

The two companions exchanged looks with each other.

"Well…" Noel started.

"Zack?" came a very feminine voice from the entrance to the church behind me.

"Aerith!" Zack responded as he ran to the source of the voice.

I turned around to see a young woman wearing a shin-length pink dress that buttons up with the front with a red bolero jacket. She wore brown boots and metal bracers on her wrists and around the edges of her jacket sleeves were leather belts. Her hair resembled my own in terms of bangs, but her hair was tied back by a large pink ribbon. At least this woman had on reasonable clothes unlike Serah and Noel.

Zack picked her up with a hug, swinging her in a circle a few times before letting her down and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Where were you? It's been so long!" Aerith stated.

"I know right? You still look just as beautiful as I remember." Zack complemented.

"Even though Shinra news said you died at Nibelheim six years ago, I knew you'd come back to see me."

Did she just say that out loud? I immediately focused my attention to Tifa to see her reaction, but she only looked mildly confused. If Zack could say something to calm her down we might be save an explanation for later.

"Yeah after five years in a lab, we recently woke up a year ago and have been running from the army ever since."

"Zack!" I got up and shouted to remind him of who was listening.

He got the message and turned to Tifa, but I was too late. Tifa's expression intensified.

"Five years in a lab? A year running from Shinra? What are you talking about?" she demanded.

She finally took notice of her clothing as she examined her body. She even looked down her white tank top and under her black leather miniskirt taking notice of the gauze I wrapped around her breast and crotch. Her cheeks turned bright red either from embarrassment or pure rage.

"What the hell did you do to me while I was asleep during all of this?" Obviously the blush was from rage.

"Nothing! Sephiroth-," You will pay SEVERELY for that Zack.

Tifa's gaze locked onto me and shot a glare three times worse than the one that she was previously using. The fear that shot through my body rivaled that of a child faced with a behemoth, of course I couldn't visually express it, but it was still there. She stood up and started walking toward me, the killer intent apparent in her eyes. My instinct told me to stand and fight, but common sense told me to avoid danger and retreat. Upholding the damned reputation of the hero Sephiroth, I stood my ground even as death itself was approaching.

"It was me!" Zack shouted. "I took care of you while you were recovering from mako addiction! I changed your clothes! I bathed you regularly! It was all me!"

Not good enough Zack. Despite his efforts, Tifa was still on a hell-bent path for my life.

"Wait!" defended both Serah and Aerith. They both stood between Tifa and I blocking her path.

"I don't know what happened between you two, but can't you at least hear him out? He probably has a good reason for-," Aerith was interrupted.

"A good reason?" Tifa's voice could be heard for miles. "There's not a damn thing good about that monster! He's a cold heartless murderer!"

"And what would that make you if you kill him?" asked Serah.

"I don't care! He deserves the slowest, most painful death imaginable!"

This has gone on long enough. I will not allow others to come to my rescue and deal with my own conflicts.

"I did it." I just signed away my own life. Everyone's gaze turned to me. "Ever since we escaped the Shinra Mansion lab basement one year ago both Zack and I have been evading and fighting the Shinra army to protect you, as you were suffering from mako poisoning. We risked everything to make sure you were safe and well taken care of. I personally saw to it that your hygiene was kept as close as possible to a ladylike standard, as we rarely received outside help. Yes, I bathed and dressed you on a regular basis, but never did I once commit any indecent acts upon you."

If I were to die by her hand I would rather her know the truth from me first, than to die without her knowing nothing of my attempts at redemption.

"You still have the right to exact revenge for the destruction of your hometown, the death of your father, and the physical abuse I caused you on that unfortunate day, but you needed to know of the events that transpired during your rehabilitation from mako addiction."

I walked between the two women who came to my rescue and confronted Tifa, fear absent within me. She stood directly in front of me clenching her fists, shaking with what I could only interpret as inconceivable hatred. Then the unexpected happened, she turned around and walked away. I couldn't believe I revealed all of that to her without any ramifications whatsoever.

A brief moment later, my visual perspective was being forced to the left of the church against my will. What was happening? Soon a small pain consumed my right cheek, but rapidly became searing agony as I was lifted off my feet and blurred images of the slums raced past me. In an instant the blurred images of the slums stopped moving and an intense pain overcame my entire body. The last image I recall was an area that resembled a child's playground and at that moment my vision faded to black and all my previous pain suddenly disappeared.

~~~~~Zack's Point of View~~~~~

Incredible. Tifa just sent Sephiroth soaring through the out of the church through the slums with just one kick. A moment later we heard a loud thud from the direction of the Sector Six slums' gate. No way. She couldn't have kicked him all the way from the church to the entrance of Sector Six slums.

"Go make sure he's still alive," Tifa said. "I can't have him die before he pays for his crimes."

Did that mean she was actually going to give him a chance to make things up to her? I nodded and took Aerith's hand heading straight for the playground with Serah and Noel following in pursuit. When we finally made it there was a large dent on the left side of the slums gate and Sephiroth was right below it lying facedown on the ground. Serah ran past me toward him and used that healing spell of hers again. Come to think of it, how was she doing that without a materia?

"He should be fine now," Serah assured us. "His injuries are healed, but it'll take a while for him to wake up."

"Well in the meantime, we should take him back to Aerith's church," Noel suggested. "And after he wakes up we can discuss everything about how we came here."

The thought never crossed my mind about how, or even why, two strangers came to the Midgar outskirts to save us. I guess when Sephiroth wakes up we'll finally be given some answers, which I'm sure he'll be happy to hear.

Noel and I got on either side on Sephiroth and threw his arm around us to lift him up so we could take him back to the church. On our way back, people started giving us some odd looks which I assumed was because we were literally dragging an unconscious man somewhere. They probably assumed that Sephiroth was dead and we just committed a murder. When got back to the church Tifa was kneeling down by the flowerbed like she had been when we first came here. She looked up and walked over to us to examine Sephiroth.

"Is he…?" she asked.

"No," I answered. "He'll wake up soon and then we can talk."

"Well that's good."

"So in the meantime why don't we get introductions out the way?"

Everyone nodded and Noel and I sat Sephiroth in a seat in the front row of the church. We gathered around the flowerbed and I started introducing myself.

"I'm Zack Fair, former SOLDIER 1st Class and current fugitive of Shinra. Six years ago there was an incident at Nibelheim where Sephiroth snapped destroying the town and killed the villagers. I tried to stop him, but ended up completely useless as he beat me fairly quickly. I think after I went down, Tifa tried to take a crack at him. I didn't see what had happened because I was unconscious. Five years after…"

I continued to tell them about our escape from Shinra Mansion, Sephiroth's sincere resolve to atone for his mistakes, and our journey to Midgar. I finished with telling them about our last stand with the Shinra army until Serah and Noel came to save us.

"That's unbelievable," Noel commented. "It's pretty hard to believe two people took down an entire army alone and survived. I wouldn't have been able to believe it until I saw the sea of bodies on the outskirts of the city."

"We only survived because you two came to our aid," Sephiroth said rubbing his jaw.

"Good you're awake," Tifa said as she walked over to him. Sephiroth took a step back when he saw her headed his way. "Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you."

"That seems very unlikely at this point."

"You wanted a chance to redeem yourself, right? Well then I'll let you try." Sephiroth quirked an eyebrow looking confused. "Your life belongs to me now. You'll do everything I say from now until I forgive you, if you ever get that far in this lifetime. Is that clear?" Sephiroth sighed before bowing down in front of her.

"Understood. My life belongs to you until specified otherwise."

"Good." Tifa grabbed his hand and led him over to the rest of us to join our conversation. "So, who's next?"

"I guess it's our turn," Noel spoke up. "As we've said before, name's Noel, Noel Kreiss and this is my comrade, Serah Farron. Before we explain our own situation, I want you to know that everything I'm about to say may sound completely crazy."

"Try us," I teased. "There is nothing we won't believe at this point, not after all that we've been through."

"Well to start things off, I guess we should mention that Serah and I are time travelers." Noel paused and looked around to see if any of us had a reaction. After no one said anything he continued. "Okay, well I'm from a post-apocalyptic time period 700 years after the fall of Cocoon. I was the very last human being born on Pulse and I'm a guardian of the seeress, Yuel."

"Okay you lost me at Cocoon. What is that?" I asked.

"You don't know what Cocoon is? It's-,"

"Actually Noel," Serah interrupted. "I haven't seen Cocoon at all in this world since we got here."

"For real? Wait then what time period are we in?"

"I'm not sure. I assumed we were in a time after Cocoon crashed into Pulse, but now that doesn't seem to be the case. Excuse me for asking, but what is this world called?"

"We call it Gaia," I answered. "I'm guessing this Cocoon is another planet you're familiar with?"

"It's my home," Serah clarified. "It's a world that floats above Gran Pulse, Noel's home. I guess you could call it a type of satellite for Pulse."

They continued to explain the fal'Cie, the fall of Cocoon, Valhalla, Etro, Lightning, Caius, paradoxes, time gates, and a whole bunch of other stuff I didn't really understand for a while.

"So essentially you're a time travelling mercenary sent by a servant of a goddess to form a team to defeat Caius and prevent the end of the world, correct?" Sephiroth summarized.

"Well I guess that's one way to put it," Noel answered.

"Well it's fortunate for us that this Etro chose us four to help you on your quest, seeing as how Zack, Tifa, and I no longer have a place in this world. And even Aerith has been included in our party so she'll no longer have to be apart from Zack any longer."

"Why are you making it seem like it's already been decided that we've agreed to join them?" Tifa asked.

"Is it not obvious? We are still wanted fugitives of Shinra, a company that basically monopolized all civilization on the planet. The army we fought on the outskirts is probably just a separate faction of a much larger military unit, not to mention the Turks are still out in pursuit of us. This planet is hardly safe for us any longer. Do you not think it best for us to leave this world and offer our assistance where it is needed and could prove beneficial for a dying world?"

Sephiroth had a point, but it all seemed so sudden, especially for Aerith and Tifa. Aerith had lived out a simple, though sometimes rough, life in the Sector Five slums her whole life, and Tifa had recently recovered from her mako addiction earlier today after six years. Until today their lives were basically normal and now they're being asked to abandon it, although Tifa doesn't really have a choice. Aerith on the other hand must be taking this kind of rough.

"I agree with Sephiroth." Or she could be all for it. "Please Zack. Although not in this world, there are still people that need our help. I want to do whatever I can to help them."

"I guess the logical thing to do would be to join Serah and Noel to help humanity survive, so I'm all for leaving," Tifa supported. "I guess that leaves Zack. It's all up to you now."

Everyone's attention was focused on me. Who was I to oppose everyone's decision because I was afraid of leaving the only world I'd ever known? I sighed and smiled back at everyone before giving a quick nod agreeing to join Serah and Noel on their journey.

"Then it's unanimous," Sephiroth announced. "I'm sure everyone has preparations they'll want to make before we depart, so for now everyone's free to do as they please. It's best we keep our time here as brief as possible. We'll leave as soon as everyone's ready."

Honestly, I'm surprised Tifa let him take charge like that. I thought she would be offended by him telling her what to do, even after he said his life belonged to her now, but I guess she wasn't really concerned about it at the moment. Everyone left to do their own thing while Sephiroth just found a seat at the front of the church to rest in until everyone came back. I, on the other hand, while having nothing else to do, decided to take a stroll around the slums to past the time.

After about an hour touring the slums for the last time, I decided to head back to the church and wait with Sephiroth. When I got back however, I only saw Tifa and Aerith. Tifa looked completely different when I laid eyes on her. I could only assume Aerith gave her a complete makeover while we were gone to make up for the simple caretaking Sephiroth and I were doing for the past year.

She now wore a white shirt under a black zip-up vest with black shorts that folded at the waist, forming an additional utility pocket at the front and a short duster at the back extending to her heels. Her gloves are black now and shorter than the ones we gave her before, covering only her hands and wearing black high-top shoes with white stripes and a white tip. In addition to her new outfit she also cut her hair, now without it being tied back at the tip, it reaches down to her lower back.

"How do you like it? I think I did a much better job with her than you two, don't you think?" Aerith boasted.

"Totally," I cheered. "She looks like a completely different person. Whoa!"

Out of nowhere, Noel and Serah dropped down from the hole in the roof of the church carrying some strange object in their hand.

"Sorry," Noel apologized. "Didn't scare you, did we?"

I shook my head in response and shortly after, Sephiroth walked through the entrance of the church holding the Masamune.

"I assume everyone is fully prepared?" he asked. Everyone nodded in response. "Then we should depart immediately."

We all left Midgar shortly after and arrived back at the cliff where the time gate stood. With one last goodbye to the world we once knew, Serah held up the "artifact" she got back at Aerith's church to it and we were lifted off our feet into the gate.

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**Author's Note:** So I don't think I did a good job with explanations in this chapter, so I just wanted to add a couple of clarifications in my AN.

During Noel's explanation of the XIII-2 universe, he mentioned that Lightning told him to find Serah and the four people from the FFVII universe to help him on the journey, which I hope explains Sephiroth's summary afterwards.  
Tifa is now in her Advent Children outfit, Aerith is in her Dissidia 012 outfit, Sephiroth has his normal outfit, and Zack is in his 1st Class outfit.  
I kind of forgot about Mog so I'm going to try to make up a decent excuse for him not being with Serah this chapter in the next chapter.  
During the hour long break they had to prepare at the end, Sephiroth left Midgar to go get his sword from the bottom of the cliff, Zack had his the whole time, Aerith now has her staff, and Tifa has… nothing :D

Um I think that's all for now. If there's anything that doesn't quite make sense please let me know via PM or review. Thanks.

Leave a review if you feel like it


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the whole or any part of Final Fantasy or the characters involved in this story. This story is purely a work of fiction by a fan, hence the word "fanfiction."

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~~~~~Zack's Point of View~~~~~

So this is the Historia Crux Noel was talking about. This place is… pretty fun actually. I've never actually had the experience of flying without an aircraft. Tifa looked like she was having fun flying through the air and Sephiroth was just looking around, taking in the sights I guess. It was kind of soothing just floating through time and space like we didn't have a care in the world. Although as soothing as it was I couldn't bring myself to just relax. We still have a mission to do, after all.

"If you don't mind my asking," Sephiroth started. "How many times have you actually been through this place?"

"Hmm," Serah starting thinking. "Well we've gone to Bresha Ruins and fought Atlas, the Yaschas Massif to meet Hope, and now we should be on our way back to Oerba."

"Back?" I asked.

"Right. See we never really found an artifact in Oerba, but then a gate just appeared in front of us and we though there would be an artifact for us on the other side. Since we have it now we should be on our way back to Oerba to find another gate that needs it."

"Wait," Tifa interjected. "Didn't the gate on Gaia take the artifact you had?"

"Apparently not. I still have it with me. Plus we need to go back since we left a friend there to keep an eye on things."

We entered a bright light and landed on the ground covered with what seemed like powdered crystal.

"You solved the paradox, Kupo!"

I looked up at Serah to see a…

"Oh wow, is that a moogle?" Tifa seemed very intrigued by the "moogle" that jumped into Serah's arms. Come to think of it, it did look a lot like the moogles back home, only ours were fake like the kind you find in video games and they weren't as chubby as this one.

"Yeah, his name is Mog." Serah answered. "He's the friend we were talking about."

"Our first experience in this world is encountering a live talking moogle," Sephiroth mocked. "What's next? Giant metal cactuars?"

"You've never seen one before?"

Sephiroth face palmed himself and let out a sigh, while Aerith and Serah giggled.

"Mog, what do you mean we solved the paradox?" Noel asked.

"It looks like everything's back to normal," Serah commented.

I looked around at the general area and wondered what happen to this place before all of us got here.

"What do you mean by 'normal'? What happened before we got here?" Tifa always seems to ask questions when I'm thinking about them.

"The town was being sucked into a black hole caused by the past and future merging together. Serah and I resolve the paradoxes and the place got restored little by little," Noel explained.

"Well if we're done with this place and we have the artifact, why don't we try giving it to that time gate over there?" Tifa suggested motioning to a gate under a giant tree.

We all agreed and started walking toward the time gate. Serah lifted the artifact towards it, but nothing happened.

"Nothing's happening." Serah observed.

"I guess we don't have the right artifact yet," Noel commented.

"I think I know who does." Sephiroth walked down the steps next to us and down the beach to an abandoned schoolhouse, as we soon followed. "I sensed someone here on our way to the time gate. I thought it was just a civilian, but I haven't seen anyone other than the six of us since we got here."

We all went up the stairs to the roof and saw a bunch of plants, but no people.

"I don't see anyone here other than us," I commented. "Are you sure you weren't just imagining someone here?" Sephiroth walked around for a bit and stumbled across a green… box thing near the other side of the roof.

"It looks like an Oracle Drive," Serah pointed out as she reached for it.

"Stop." Everyone looked back and saw a little girl over by the plants next to the steps.

A green light burst from the box knocking Serah to the ground. The air above it looked like it was gathering particles or something and soon formed an oval shaped image. In the oval a girl appeared, two people were running toward her and the girl smiled.

"Lightning," Serah said.

That's Lightning? I was expecting someone more aggressive and… Sephiroth-like, but this girl was smiling. The image continued with Serah running up to hug her sister for a moment, then some big guy in a trench coat and black bandanna separated them saying something about a wedding. The guy turns toward Lightning and says, "Lightning, I swear to you! I will make her happy!" The first thought that ran through my mind was is he going to marry Serah? It wasn't my place to question it since I've only known her for less than a day.

The vision started to have another vision playing over it in black and white. The happy vision of Serah and her sister took a different turn as the Serah there looked like she was about to cry. The black and white vision looked like someone was trying to escape from something. It reminded me a lot of my journey with Sephiroth and Tifa trying to escape Shinra pursuers. The vision ended with the other Serah falling to her knees crying.

Our Serah fell down to her knees too saying something about a prophecy.

"If you change the future, you change the past," a dark voice said. "Change is the constant."

The voice came from a man in dark clothing standing behind the vision. He swiped it away with a swing of his sword and fell right in front of us. Who was this guy? Something told me he wasn't here to be our friend.

"Caius," Noel muttered.

"I have seen you," the little girl behind us announced. "I have seen all of you." She started walking past us until Noel grabbed her.

"Yeul?"

"What? You mean the seeress?" Serah asked.

"I am not the Yeul you know," Yeul responded. Noel let her go and looked disappointed.

"You must understand, there are many Yeuls," the dark guy explained.

"Wait," Serah started. "I saw you. My sister was fighting you."

Sephiroth drew his sword. This guy, Caius, was obviously our enemy and here he was in front of us with his weapon drawn. I took the Buster Sword of my back and got ready for a fight too.

"What are you doing in this time?" Noel asked.

"I learned of your journey, leaping back and forth along the timeline," Caius put his hand on Yeul's head. "Yeul has been watching everything you do."

"No, she's been watching us?"

"Yes. I see you understand the significance of that. Then you must also understand that I am here for a reason. Your actions have necessitated the strictest sanctions."

"Hey hold on a second. What do you mean sanctions?" Serah asked.

"I must protect the sanctity of the timeline."

He held up his sword, which started to glow in one spot and everyone drew their weapons.

~~~~~Sephiroth's Point of View~~~~~

Caius surrounded himself with some kind of aura that dissipated shortly. I assumed it was a special type of defensive magic so I rushed in attempting to destroy it. I started out with series of precise strikes intent on killing him, but he matched every blow with a strike of his own.

"So serious this early in the fight, are we?" he taunted. "You should learn to be more patient."

He swung his sword with more force than before, and knowing Zack was there behind me, I purposely blocked and allowed myself to be pushed back instead of evading. Zack ran past me toward Caius while he was still recovering from that swing and attempted his own swordplay. But he was denied from doing so and forced to defend himself as Caius used his free hand to shoot several reddish orbs at him. Tifa, however, had little difficulty evading them and ran past the rest of us to try her hand at him.

Caius reverted back to his swordplay, but wasn't making much progress as none of his attacks came close to hitting her. He finally made the mistake of aiming for her legs as she lifted up the one he was aiming for and stepped on the tip of his sword. She followed through with a quick, well executed punch and sent him soaring down to the shoreline by the beach. Tifa, Zack, and myself jumped down from the schoolhouse and continued to engage him by the water.

As soon as he recovered, he planted his sword in the ground and the "eye" on his sword started to glow. A burst of darkness came forward for all three of us that Tifa flipped over, Zack guarded (and was unfortunately pushed back), and I simply ran around. Tifa, once above Caius from her initial flip, came down with a swift kick, which missed because of his dodge, but left a small crater on impact with the ground. Small forms of darkness came from Caius's position shortly after, but they were not aimed at Tifa, who was the one closest to him, but me. I cut through each one, slightly disappointed at the strength of them, and continued on my path to Caius.

"Enough," Caius stated.

His body started to glow faintly. Again, he planted his sword in the ground and released another burst of darkness. The only noticeable difference between this time and last was the number and increased speed of the waves. There were three total each aimed toward one of us and they were much faster than anticipated so I blocked on instinct. The strength of it was at a level only a 1st Class SOLDIER could handle so I had no concern for Zack, but Tifa was another story.

Suddenly, while still holding off the blast wave, I heard splashes of water being ripped through as if something was being dragged through it at a quick pace. Soon the noise stops and Caius is high in the air above us. Tifa appeared next to him a second later and punches him downward into the steps by the time gate leaving a cloud of smoke.

I dispersed the wave I was defending against and saw Zack and Tifa in front of the steps in their battle stances. After joining them, a light came from the impact point on the stairs and Caius jumped backwards to the top of the stairs.

"You shall pay for your crimes in blood," Caius stated.

"Stop this Caius," Noel shouted running beside us. "I am not going to fight you."

"Clearly, but times have changed. I am not the Caius you once knew. To change history is a sin"

"It's too late," Yeul said from behind Caius. "The timeline has already changed."

Caius plants his sword in the ground and kneels before her. "But must we accept this, Yeul?"

"If you change the future, you change the past," she said as if quoting a history textbook. She presses a button on the side of her helmet to reveal her long coral dark blue hair. "You can remold history as your heart desires."

Caius stands and walks over to her. "Let's go now, before you are made to witness more."

He creates a spiraling well of light amidst a spiraling cloud of darkness over it, with both he and Yeul entering and disappearing inside of it.

"Yuel," Noel mumbles. "What does Caius want?"

"Noel," Serah inquired. "That man, Caius. Who is he exactly? I've seen his face before… in my dream."

"I thought I recognized him. But I don't think he's the man I used to know. He couldn't be here… not in this time."

Tifa stepped forward. "That man attacked us. He's your enemy now. If it weren't for us you might've been killed." I couldn't help but fell like she was remembering Nibelheim. "Let go of all your past connections to him. It'll just hurt that much more when he finally takes everything away from you."

Tifa turned around and walked toward the time gate, but when she passed me, I felt a strong sensation emitting from her and I could only assume that my hunch was correct. If I was to regain her trust, I had to make her forget about Nibelheim. The rest of the party followed Tifa up the steps and waited at the gate.

"She was the same," Noel started again. "The same face, the same voice. But even so… she didn't know me at all."

"You mean Yeul?" Aerith asked.

"Yes." Noel paused and looked around at everyone. "Well, no questions?"

"I don't think it's really a good idea to talk about the past," Zack answered. "Talking about it just makes it hurt even more."

"I understand. I think it would be hard for you to answer, so I won't ask," Aerith said in her sympathetic voice. "You can tell us when you're ready."

"Noel. Before we came here, you said it was 'personal stuff,' remember?" Serah prompted. "I'm a smart girl, I can take a hint. So I'm not going to pry."

"Yeah, sorry… and thanks… all of you." Noel replied.

"Well then shall we be off?" I suggested.

Serah gave the artifact to the gate and we entered it back into the Historia Crux. One thing bothered me though. In our fight against Caius, why was Tifa the only one able to land a blow to him while Zack and I, two 1st Class SOLDIERs, spent all of our time on the defensive? The only explanation I could think of was that Hojo's documents were mistaken when they said she reached 2nd Class rank. She seemed more of the super-soldier I used to be with my Jenova cells.

Did pure mako energy really have the ability to surpass Jenova or was there another factor in the experiments performed on her? Either way there was a feeling within me, surprisingly, it wasn't concern that caught my attention. The best word would have to be inferiority.

The trip back was moderately soundless. Tifa and Aerith were quietly talking amongst themselves, Serah and Noel were doing the same, and Zack was enjoying "flying" through time. I had to get my mind off of Tifa's newfound strength.

"Serah, might I ask something?"

"Hm? Oh sure."

"The four of us are neither from Cocoon or Gran Pulse. Our magic comes from a crystallized energy source called materia, yet you're able to cast healing magic at will." The others from Gaia stopped their previous activities and gathered around Serah. "May I ask how that's possible?"

"Oh, well," She seemed to have trouble explaining for some reason. "I guess that is a good question. Until recently, normal human beings couldn't cast magic on their own either. We had special AMP technology and used manadrives to use it. Other than that, you had to become a l'Cie, a walking time bomb for the fal'Cie, to use magic. Once the fal'Cie were abandoned we taught ourselves how to use it and, well, here I am."

"Whoa, really? That's amazing." Zack can sometimes still be the puppy Angeal used to tease. "So can you teach us?"

"Sure, no problem."

At the time I was probably oblivious to my own actions. I was curious, of course, but also I think I was acting out of jealousy. I wanted to be greater than Tifa, greater than my past Jenova-bound self, and I think I lost a small fragment of myself trying to do it.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yay! My first experience with writer's block. I finally feel accomplished. Sorry for the "long" delay. I initially planned on updating twice every week, but I didn't anticipate the dreaded writer's block to interfere.

Anyway, I would like to let everyone know I have no plans as to how I want this story to go. I'm basically making up things as I go and even the slightest influence may change the entire plot… not likely though. But yeah if there's anything that seems confusing or if you just have a question, don't hesitate to send me a PM or comment in a review.

So yeah, leave a review if you feel like it. You may influence the story.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the whole or any part of Final Fantasy or the characters involved in this story. This story is purely a work of fiction by a fan, hence the word "fanfiction."

* * *

~~~~~Zack's Point of View~~~~~

We landed in a dark crevice at the bottom of a mountain. It was kind of cramped with the six of us down here.

"Where are we now?" I asked.

"The Yaschas Massif," Noel answered. "Be careful. The monsters around here are tough, but they hate the light. It's best to follow in the ray of the spotlights or lampposts and make our way through."

Sephiroth walked off and jumped up one of the ledges headed straight for the darkness.

"Sephiroth!" Tifa shouted.

"Is there a problem?" he asked.

"Noel just said we needed to stay in the spotlights and avoid the dark areas."

"Your point?"

"What?"

"I'm asking you what is the purpose of following through with that cowardly course of action. Are we not already surrounded by darkness at the bottom of this cliff? Furthermore, we have two officially announced SOLDIER 1st Class fugitives, a woman infused with massive amounts of mako to behave like a SOLDIER 1st Class, a hunter from a world devoid of all human life, the sister of a deity guardian for a goddess, and…" He stared at Aerith for a moment trying to figure out his next choice of words. "A very kindhearted young woman. I doubt monsters are top-priority on our list of concerns."

"Excuse me?" Tifa's face was bathed in anger. "'Behave like a 1st Class?' I am NOTHING like you!"

"Oh?"

Sephiroth had a pattern that I noticed over the year we'd been running from Shinra. If someone started an argument with him, and he said "Oh," his opponent was obviously going to lose. He always hammered me down with hard facts that were very hard to get around.

"I seem to recall in Midgar a certain someone incapacitating a former SOLDIER 1st Class operative with one blow, in addition to sending him flying across the majority of an entire sector. And correct me if I'm wrong, but that very same person was also the only one to land a blow on our enemy during our fight in Oerba. That kind of power can only be classified as 1st Class."

"Sephiroth!" I shouted trying to make him stop.

"You're right." Whoa. Did Tifa just say that? "And if that's the case… then wouldn't that mean I'm better than you? Is that how 1st Class operates? Condescending their superiors? I don't think you're in any position to be talking back to me." Tifa got into a fighting stance.

"Fool," Sephiroth drew the Masamune. "It seems you've misunderstood. In that case, I'll just have to show you your place."

I couldn't let this go on any longer. "Sephiroth!" I jumped between the two of them and faced Sephiroth. "Is this really what you want? What happened to trying to redeem yourself? What happened to trying to make up for the pain you've caused her? What happened to protecting her? Was that all a lie?"

He didn't say anything. He just stared at me and glanced at Tifa before putting his sword away.

"My apologies," Sephiroth walked past me and kneeled before Tifa. "I was clearly out of line. I sincerely apologize for my outbursts and will willingly accept any reprimand you see fit."

~~~~~Tifa's Point of View~~~~~

The man that took everything away from me, the source of all my pain and hatred, was kneeling down in front me asking for punishment. All I ever wanted was to kill him for everything he'd done, to make him pay and feel the same pain I felt. But as much as I hated him, as much as I wanted to make him suffer, I couldn't do it. Twice, this man asked for his death and both times I couldn't give it to him. I don't know if it was because if I was too weak to do it or if I was strong enough not to.

If only I could take that sword of his and shove it through his damn head, I could finally be happy. Or… could I? No. Killing him won't bring back my father or Nibelheim. I needed him alive. That's what I kept telling myself. He needed to make up for everything he's done, but no matter how hard he tries I'll still never forgive him. But he's not the only one. The one that I will truly never forgive is that thing he kept calling his mother, Jenova. I'll kill her. I'll make her suffer! I'll…!

"Tifa!" Zack shouted. "It's done."

Before I knew it I was on top of a beast that looked like the remains a behemoth. It was deformed in various places and covered in serious bruises all over its body. I looked around and saw near a broken lamppost another brutally beaten, dead behemoth. There was a trail of blood leading down a cliff Aerith was standing over, and the trail started not even five feet away from me, farther than where anyone else was. She was looking down with her hand over her mouth like she had just witnessed something horrible. Then I looked down at my gloves, which were soaked in blood.

"Did I…?" I was confused and scared.

"Why didn't you do any of that to me?" Sephiroth asked. "If you had, I wouldn't be alive right now and you could finally be happy." I just looked down at my "work" and my body filled with remorse. "Your father must have been an extreme failure to have raised such a worthless child who can't even kill his murderer."

Forget those monsters. This man needs to die, now!

"That's enough, Sephiroth!" Aerith shouted. "Dying isn't the only way to make up for your mistakes. Stop asking for punishment every time you feel sorry and try harder to make her happy. That's what you want, isn't it? All you really want is for Tifa to be happy, right? Can't you see you're causing her more pain by bringing up the past?"

There was silence. I actually thought about it for a minute. He said if I killed him I could be happy. Could that be what he truly wanted?

"Must be nice to be able to say that with such certainty," Sephiroth replied. "You aren't the murderer who took everything from her. My being alive brings up the past for her every moment of her life! Every time she closes her eyes she shudders and struggles in her sleep because the man who ruined her life still lives! And now she has to travel through time for who knows how long with that very same man! Can you imagine how she must feel?"

"You should ask yourself the same question," Noel retorted. "She let you live twice already. And after that comment you made a moment ago, you're still alive. What does that say about how she feels? In fact, why don't you ask her?"

All eyes were locked on me. I was so confused. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what I felt. But everyone was staring at me I had to say something.

"She doesn't know. Why try to force her to say something she has no knowledge about?"

"So you're just going to decide for her?"

"This doesn't concern you! Why should you care?"

"Because everything was taken from me too! I was the very last person alive on earth and I'm trying to get it back. But I'm not going to kill anybody to do it. That's why you're still alive. Because she's strong enough to know that if she goes down that path, she'll be no better than the very person she hated the most."

Sephiroth stared at me for a moment and then walked over to me. I could see he wanted to find a place on me to set his hand, but couldn't probably because that's just how he is. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry, Tifa."

That was the only time I actually felt sincerity in his words. I still hated him with a passion, but those three words seemed to make it all a little bit better. He held out his hand to help me get down from the top of the monster. I was still skeptical about even touching him, but somehow I managed to accept his offer and he helped me down.

"So we're all going to get along now, right?" Aerith asked.

"We'll see," I told her.

She giggled a little and all of us started walking down a straight path with an opening at the end of it. It didn't occur to me that we were out of the crevice, although it should've been obvious when I saw Aerith looking down a cliff.

"Hey," Serah started. "I can see the moon."

"The eclipse is over… or it never existed in the first place," Noel guessed. "History here has changed."

"If the paradox didn't happen, then maybe Hope never had any reason to come here."

"There's still the Oracle Drive. Maybe that would've been enough of a draw for him. Only one way to find out."

"I'm sorry," Zack started. "But what exactly happened here?"

They explained to us that a fal'Cie named Fenrir blocked out the sun and an organization called the Academy came to the ruins to investigate. Their friend Hope was the director, but in a world where the paradox was solved, the eclipse never darkened the sky in the first place. And now they're wondering if Hope really had a reason to come here.

"Welcome home." Whoa. Yeul came out of nowhere. I think my heart stopped for a second.

"How did you…?" Noel began.

"Yeul. Did you come through the gate too?" Serah asked.

"The one you met was a different Yeul, a Yeul from the future," Yeul explained.

"So you don't know me either." Noel assumed.

"I know about you. I've been watching you both."

"You can see the future, can't you?" Serah asked.

"I can trace the timeline. I see the future, and lead others along the correct path. I came here to confirm something I already know." Yeul pointed at Serah. "You and I are the same."

"What do you mean?"

"You, too, can show others the way." Yeul walked off down the path we came.

"Wait I don't get it. How are we the same?"

"Ignore her," Sephiroth suggested. "She is no threat to us and we have other matters to attend to, do we not?"

"I was afraid of what would happen if no one was here," Noel commented.

"I guess the ruins were interesting enough," Serah said. "They didn't need the paradox to draw them here."

We followed Noel and Serah through the site up to what looked like a meeting room. Two people were there waiting for us, Hope and a girl named Alyssa. Hope's memories had changed because we resolved the paradox and it was like they had to meet him for the first time again, of course the rest of us introduced ourselves to him because it really was the first time we ever met. When Serah and Noel explained his memories have changed because the paradox had been resolved Hope believed them without question. And then…

"I have something I want to show you," Hope said.

He walked over to an Oracle Drive and activated it, starting a clip of something just like in Oerba. The clip looked like a battle between Lightning and Caius, although Caius looked much more powerful in the Oracle Drive than he did when we fought him.

"It _is _Lightning," Serah assured herself.

"This is a recording of the future," Hope continued. "We're unable to identify the location or circumstances. There is one thing we are sure about, however. And remember, we don't know what era this is. Lightning is alive in that place. In my memory, Lightning disappeared after the battle with Orphan. But she's living somewhere in the future."

"So it's not just a dream, is it?"

"She's out there."

"Then I'm going to find her."

"And you will find her, Serah. After all, you traveled through time and found me. Many years of research have finally borne fruit. It all began with the Oracle Drive."

I was still listening to Hope, but Alyssa caught my eye for some reason. She wasn't doing anything, only staring at the Oracle Drive. But after a while into Hope's conversation with Serah it started to glow like it was beginning to show another recording.

"Director!" Alyssa shouted.

This one showed a battle between monsters and Lightning riding on that weird looking horse again like in the last vision. But then Caius waved his arm and another vision appeared behind him showing a planet falling to the ground. I assumed it was Cocoon crashing into Pulse.

"Caius," Noel scoffed.

"What happened? Did the prophecy get rewritten?" Alyssa asked.

"Not necessarily rewritten. It could be the original prophecy, restored as it once was. Perhaps a continuation of the first recording." Hope theorized.

"If this is showing us the future, then someday Cocoon will fall," Serah assumed. "Noel, you told me in your time, Cocoon didn't exist as it does now."

"Yeah it came to the ground long before I was born. After it happened, the whole world just fell apart pretty much." Noel answered.

"But who made it fall? Could it have been Caius?"

"No. He couldn't do that."

"When is Cocoon supposed to fall? How many years? Is it soon?" Alyssa was really worried.

"No. Not for a couple of centuries."

"Oh, that's a long time from now. I mean none of us'll even be alive to see it."

"But others will," Sephiroth reasoned. "Cocoon will fall to Gran Pulse. Imagine the catastrophe. Think how many lives will be destroyed."

"Right. That's the future I lived in." Noel concluded.

"But it doesn't have to happen, right?" Aerith asked. "That's what we're here for. We can change the future. We can stop Cocoon from falling and make your world a better place."

"Yeah, but how?" Alyssa asked. "You think you can go to the time when it falls and hold it up yourselves? Do you even have a gate to take you there?"

Way to be optimistic Alyssa.

"It might not be necessary to travel to the specific time and place." Hope guessed.

"How so?" Sephiroth asked.

"The future depends on what we do now, right? Yes, there is a chance Cocoon will fall, but we can start working now to prevent it from happening. And if we can't, we can at least work to mitigate the damage. If we begin our research now, we have time. Then, should Cocoon indeed fall, we can help protect the planet and save the victims."

"Okay, lets do it," Noel approved. "We can try to solve things at the other end, in the future. While you start preparing in the here and now."

"Yes. Lets change the future."

"If you change the future…" Serah whispered.

"Serah?" Hope asked.

"It's nothing. Hope, thank you for the help."

"Time will separate us, but we'll share a common goal."

We all left to go back to the time gate, but Serah stopped on our way down the stairs.

"Noel. You know, I started this journey hoping to find my sister. But now, I want more. I want to save the future."

"So do I, Serah," Noel assured her.

"We all do," Aerith added. "Even though this isn't our world, I'm sure all of us want to do anything we can to help."

"Kupo?" Mog said as he ran off.

We followed him up the stairs past the room where Hope was to the platform above it.

"Giddy up," Noel told him.

"Kupo!" Mog spun around quickly and this field of… I can't really explain it, but after he stopped, an artefact appeared next to us. "Who's the moogle!"

"Um," I said, hoping someone would tell us what just happened.

"Oh that's right," Serah noticed. "This is your first time seeing Mog in action. He can fix time distortions to reveal hidden items lost in another time. Just now he found an artefact lost in a different time and brought it here."

In other words, not only is Mog cute, but he's also a handy search tool.

"Well we found it," Aerith said. "Now we just have to figure out which gate it belongs to."

"Just this moment, I felt a disturbance coming from the mountains," Mog said. "I'd bet my bobble a gate appeared there, Kupo."

We all headed outside of the excavation site and into the mountains. It was a peaceful walk until a flash of orange lightning hit the area around us and revealed three behemoths. How did that even happen? Usually monsters are just roaming around the area, but now they come out of lightning aimed at us?

"You want to take care of these too, Tifa?" Sephiroth asked.

I shot him an annoyed look hoping he would get the hint. All he did was smile and draw his sword.

"Hey, we need to get some practice in too," Noel objected. "Can't let you guys have all the fun."

Noel drew his swords and Serah drew her bow. Wait. Bow? Where did she get a bow? Where did she get any kind of weapon? I thought she was a martial artist like me. If that wasn't weird enough, a big silver circle was swirling on the ground beside Serah and another behemoth appeared in its place.

"Serah! Watch out!" I yelled.

"Don't worry," she said calmly. "He's with us."

I didn't really understand at the moment, but when the fight started the behemoth that appeared beside Serah was actually fighting along with her against the other monsters. What was going on? Could this world's magic actually tame vicious wild monsters? I watched as Serah's monster battled its own kind and when it was almost finished Serah cut it down her sword. Wait. Now she had a sword?

Where is she getting all of these weapons? First a bow, then a monster, and now a sword. The fight finished with Noel killing the last behemoth putting away his swords, while Serah's monster disappeared and she hugged Mog. Where did her weapons go? Serah was officially trying to screw with my head.

"That was very interesting to watch," Sephiroth commented. "Having a monster fight alongside you in battle is indeed beneficial. Tell me, is that a specific type of magic?"

"I think Lightning gave us the power to control monsters," Serah answered. "I don't think it's something you can learn. Sorry."

"And Mog? He can fix time distortions, sense time gates, and transform into combat weapons. Are there any more surprises we should be aware of?"

Mog transformed into those weapons? He's the cutest little thing ever _and _he helps you fight? I just found my new love. Serah just giggled and we continued onward toward the gate. Occasionally monsters popped out of nowhere like before, but we just alternated teammates to finish them off. We arrived at the gate and it accepted the artefact Serah offered to it.

"Noel?" Serah asked. "We can change the future, can't we?"

"We can, and we will," Noel answered. "Then we can go back to the homes we've made safe."

We were pulled back into the Historia Crux headed to our next destination. But one thing still bothered me. Even if we change the future and save Cocoon, what'll happen to our home, Gaia? Why were the four of us, people from a completely different world, chosen to help Noel and Serah save this one? Although it's not like there's anyone back home waiting for us. We're fugitives that killed an entire army. No one's going to accept us on that world. But even so, there's still one person on Gaia that I know will be happy to see me.

* * *

**Author's Note**: So I really didn't want to write this chapter because I knew I was going to end up ripping most of the conversations from the game.

Anyway, I wanted to clear up that in the Yachas Massif it was nighttime, which was why Noel mentioned the lampposts and spotlights.

Again if there's anything that doesn't make sense or if you have any other questions don't hesitate to send me a pm or leave it in a review, which you should leave… if you feel like it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the whole or any part of Final Fantasy or the characters involved in this story. This story is purely a work of fiction by a fan, hence the word "fanfiction."

* * *

~~~~~Sephiroth's Point of View~~~~~

If felt as though we were forcibly kicked out of the Historia Crux for some reason. We arrived in some ruins on the edge of darkness. The only light available was coming from… the swirling vortex leading back to the Historia Crux. I was expecting a time gate to be in its place, but apparently that wasn't the case.

"Is this where I think it is?" Serah asked.

"What? You mean Valhalla?" Noel assumed.

"Could Lightning be here?"

"No. Something's different. This isn't Valhalla. It looks like it, sure. But it's not the same."

"This is the rift between gate and gate. It's the Void Beyond, kupo," Mog explained.

"So you're saying we're lost?" I asked.

Mog said nothing and lowered his head, which answered my question. Serah sighed and walked toward a fallen pillar.

"I need a break," she said. "Finding my sister isn't going to be easy."

"We had a legend back home, about a goddess," Noel started. "We hunters passed the story down, from father to son. It gave us strength when times were tough. 'Never give up, for the goddess Etro watches always, and helps those who help themselves.'"

"It's not much of a legend really, is it? It sounds more like common sense to me."

"Yeah, but when the going gets rough, you don't need anything complicated, just a reminder to stick things out. Let's just keep telling ourselves that every time we go through a gate, we're getting closer to Lightning. Sound good?"

Serah giggled and nodded in response. We went back to the vortex and reentered the Historia Crux.

"I hope we land right in the place where Lightning is waiting. Where do you think we'll end up this time? The future? The past?" Serah questioned.

"I have no idea," Noel answered. "With all this jumping back and forth, I'm not sure I know which is which anymore. But the past is what makes us who we are, defines us as people. The future that we're aiming for, that's the thing we can change. No matter how bad things have been, without that past, I wouldn't be who I am now."

Noel glanced over toward Tifa and then at me. Although those words were stated towards Serah, they were clearly meant for us.

"Just be honest with yourself. If you are, then you'll be sure to arrive at the future you want."

"Or perhaps things are best left as they are," I retorted. "Our past is not one we can just accept."

"But that doesn't mean we can't use it to change our future," Aerith replied. "The remorse and pain you feel for your past can help you change your future. It's like Noel said, 'that's the thing we can change.'"

Why is this woman feel that it's her job to try to make me accept that gruesome past? She wasn't there, so she couldn't possibly understand what is was like. As kindhearted and optimistic as she is, I'm almost beginning to dislike her.

~~~~~Aerith's Point of View~~~~~

We landed in a forest with a crystal pillar in the middle of it. I guess that was the pillar Noel was talking about that supported Cocoon. The forest was actually kind of pretty, although it seemed far too high up from the ground, which made it kind of scary. Serah and Noel were looking over the edge of a cliff at something below and the rest of us gathered around to find out what. There was a horde of… jelly-like tomato monsters headed down a path, but in random spots every second another monster appeared and made the horde bigger. What was going on?

"So this is what the end of the world looks like," Noel said.

"Are they going to destroy the planet?" Serah asked.

"I highly doubt they are responsible for the destruction of Cocoon," Sephiroth answered.

"But if the world does end here…" Noel started. "…my future never should have happened. Which means there must be a way to stop them."

Serah started moaning and dropped to her knees holding her head.

"Serah," Everyone said together. She falls into Noel's arms and says something as if quoting a poetry book.

"The pillar crumbles to ashen sand, and down to earth the cocoon does fall."

"Serah… Serah? Serah!" Noel started shaking her.

She opened her eyes and an orange glow came from her pupil. It was kind of scary to look at.

"No!" Serah screamed.

She jumped up pushing Noel to the ground and took off running down the path pass the time gate with Mog following her.

"Wait! Serah! What's wrong?" Noel shouted. "What did she see? Was it a vision? Does Serah have the same power as Yeul?"

"Maybe instead of asking questions we should go after her to make sure she's safe," Sephiroth suggested.

The rest of us followed the same path Serah took and came up on a bigger, more disgusting version of the small jelly tomato monsters. In front of it a man just defeated the smaller versions and collapsed on the ground. Serah ran up to him out in the open and held him up, which made me think he was very important to her.

"Snow! Is that really you?" she asked. "I-I can't believe it."

"Serah?" The man said as he put his hand to her cheek. "Am I dreamin' again?" He shook his head and got to his feet. "Dream or not, you gotta get outta here!"

The ugly tomato monster pulled back its arm and swung it down at both of them. The man pushed Serah back and blocked the attack with his arms. Noel jumped out in front of us and shot a blast of fire at the monster getting its hand off them. The rest of us drew our weapons and ran by their side, prepared for a battle.

"Thanks Noel," Serah said.

"I'll give you a hand," the man said.

"No!" Noel objected. "I'll hold it off, you get outta here."

"Hey, you kiddin'? With Serah watching? I don't think so?"

"Fine. We'll do it together."

The man and Serah got into a battle stance and started shooting magic at it with Noel. Sephiroth, Tifa, and Zack ran straight for the giant jelly tomato and immediately and started hacking away at its base, although it didn't seem like Tifa was doing as much damage as the other two this time. She seemed slower than in the fight with Caius and the jelly tomato looked like it was absorbing most of her attacks.

"Hey!" Snow shouted. "Punches and kicks aren't strong against that thing! Use magic!"

Tifa looked shocked. She hadn't learned magic from Serah yet and all she knew was martial arts. The monster started shaking and let out a putrid gas from its base. The smell was so nauseating, but the worst part was that while we were in it, it seemed like my flesh was burning right off my body. I was at the back of the field a fair distance away, but I was worried about Sephiroth, Tifa, and Zack who were right up front and had to take the brunt of it. After the gas cleared Sephiroth and Zack were on their knees coughing up their lungs and Tifa had passed out. The monster lifted its arms into the air and we all knew what was coming next. Zack and Sephiroth lifted Tifa and retreated behind the rest of us.

"Get close, I'll cover you!" the man shouted.

"Don't be a fool," Noel argued.

"C'mon, trust me!"

The man turned around and guarded all of us from the monster as he slammed his arms down on us. He also pushed its arms away and casted a spell that looked like a it was from a barrier materia, but the shape of it was different.

"Not bad, eh?"

Serah focused her attention on the party and casted Esuna on all of us. It felt like the Esuna I'm used to, only this one had more warmth to it. The monster started dragging its arms across the field. Zack took me in his arms and the man took Serah and we all jumped over every wave it did. I guess it knew it wasn't going to hit us so it used its poison again, but Serah healed us again so the fight was really repetitive. Tifa and I were left in the back while Sephiroth and Zack went back up front and used their swords, and the other three were using magic to fight.

"This jelly bean's tickin' me off," Noel said.

"C'mon, all together!" the man said after running up with Zack and Sephiroth.

"With ya!" Noel yelled.

"Tifa! Sephiroth!" Zack yelled.

Tifa nodded and ran beside Snow. Sephiroth spread his feet and got into a stance where his left hand was curved around his right side holding his sword at an angle and his right hand lowered in front of him. It looked like he was charging something.

"Now!" the man yelled as he and Tifa got into a fighting stance.

Zack and Noel ran up to their partners and jumped above them. Both Tifa and the man both caught their feet with an upward punch and launched them into the air, only Zack went much higher than Noel. Noel was at eye-length of the monster and shot a volley of fire spells into its mouth. Tifa and the man did another upward punched at the monster's base and knocked it up in the air also. Zack started spinning through the air and swung his sword at the monster knocking it towards Sephiroth, Serah, and me.

"Serah! Shoot!" the man shouted.

Serah got on the ground with her bow aimed at the monster's chest. At the same time, Serah shot her arrow and Sephiroth swung his sword releasing a huge shockwave, both hitting and exploding the monster into lots of smaller original jelly monsters. We were about to celebrate until the little monsters started combining to form the giant ugly one we just fought.

"It just won't stay dead," the man complained.

"Let's go," Noel suggested.

"Yeah! We'll hit it hard while it's down and…"

"No! I mean we get outta here! Look, that way!"

"Come on, Snow. Let's go," Serah said as she grabbed Snow's arm.

"Let's go, Aerith," Zack said as he grabbed my arm.

We ran to a ledge a little ways away from the giant jelly tomato to regroup. As I thought back to the fight, I felt really jealous and useless. Everyone worked together to fight while I was stuck on the sidelines. I was tired of not being able to fight along side Zack and the others. I had to ask Serah to teach me magic so I wouldn't be a burden any longer.

"Listen," Noel started. "Hotheads who can't back down don't last long on this planet."

"Maybe," Snow said. "But sometimes, you've gotta make a stand."

"You're not listening to me. Humans aren't strong. They die easy."

"Well some of us are tougher than others. Anyway, thanks for the help. You got a name?"

Noel just ignored him and walked away. Maybe this wasn't the best time to ask Serah for help. Things are starting to get really awkward.

"Er… this is Noel… Aerith, Zack, Tifa, and Sephiroth," Serah said gesturing to each of us as she said our name. "And this is Snow. We're getting married."

"It's on hold for now."

Why would he say such a thing? Serah looked so sad.

"You know, somehow I didn't expect you to be such a hothead," Noel started. "All I hear is what a great guy Snow is. And look where you are, all the way in the future."

"I'm sorry, who's the hothead? What were you thinkin', bringing Serah out here?"

"Listen, Snow," Serah began.

She explained everything from the beginning of her journey to now. She even accurately explained everything that happened to Sephiroth, Zack, and Tifa. Even though she summarized most of the events, it still took a really long time.

"And that's how we got here."

"Now it's your turn," Noel ordered. "Why did you up and leave Serah? What are you doing, fighting here in the future?"

"You really wanna know?" Snow asked after he sighed.

"I asked, didn't I?"

"Lightning appeared in my dreams, too. Can you believe it? She told me I had to protect Cocoon. So I started jumping through time, checking things out. I learned that the giant jellybean back there knocks Cocoon down."

"You mean the flan we just fought?"

"According to the stories I heard back in my own time, Cocoon was brought down by war."

"Well there's more than just one cause. Did'ya see what it was doin', that flan? It's melting the crystal of the pillar, bit by bit."

"But Vanille and Fang, they're inside it," Serah explained.

"Yeah. So Cocoon starts to get unstable. People feel the tremors and begin to panic. Next thing you know, everyone's fightin' each other."

"It's consistent with what I know… sort of," Noel commented.

"I can't believe Lightning appeared in your dreams as well," Serah said. "She told you to protect Cocoon's pillar, so she must want you to save Vanille and Fang."

"Like I said," Snow reiterated. "Sometimes you've gotta make a stand. I don't have a choice. My mission is to stop that thing for good."

"In any case, with Snow in our team, we can do anything, right? I bet we could even beat that giant flan!"

"Hey, Serah, you're comin' around to my way of thinkin'. Let's do it. Let's turn back and finish that jellybean off, once and for all."

"I'd advise against that," Sephiroth objected. "Have you forgotten? We retreated because it was too strong. Furthermore, magic seems to affect it the most, an ability we've yet to learn."

"Well if Noel, Serah, and Snow all teach us we can go back and beat it, right?" Zack asked. "Don't forget, we're SOLDIER 1st Class. We can take care of an overgrown monster, no sweat."

Sephiroth glanced at me for a moment until Noel sighed and caught his attention.

"None of this makes sense," Noel observed. "There're thousands of flan appearing out of nowhere, and they're fusing and creating a beast that shouldn't exist."

"Could it be a paradox?" I asked.

"If it is, we'll need to do some traveling to fix it."

"Which means you've gotta find an artefact first," Snow finished.

"I know we need to solve the paradox and all, but I really think we should learn magic first. What if there's an enemy immune to physical attacks or if it's a flying enemy we cant reach?" Tifa asked.

"I agree," Sephiroth supported. "Especially…"

Sephiroth looked back at me again, earning me the looks of everyone else. Why would he do that? It was so embarrassing. I closed my eyes tight and turned around from everyone.

"You're not a burden or a liability, but you're not a benefit either. No offence, but if anyone needs to learn magic, it's her."

~~~~~Zack's Point of View~~~~~

"Sephiroth!" I yelled.

Did he love to hurt girls' feelings or what? I couldn't let him stand there and insult Aerith like that.

"Have you ever seen her fight?" he asked. "She has a staff, but I've never seen her use it. And even if she did, how could she compare to the rest of us? She's just some girl you picked up from the slums. She couldn't possibly have any battle experience."

I threw a punch aimed for his face, but he leaned back and dodged it. Luckily, Tifa was on my side and caught him in the back of his head with a kick that knocked him flat on his face. Although I would've loved it if I were the one to have done it, that's what he gets.

"What is wrong with you?" Tifa yelled. Apparently she was just as mad as I was. "Do you always have to belittle women? Do you ever even think about anyone's feelings but your own? We're a team, Sephiroth. Why don't you start acting like one."

"Oh?" Sephiroth said as he got up. "Those within a team protect one another. The year we spent running from Shinra, Zack and I were a team. Although you were with us, you were not part of that team because you were unable to act. Aerith is the same way. Would I suggest simply abandoning her? Never. I'm saying this not for our well-being, but her own."

"As harsh as he may make it out to be, he's right," Noel supported. "Think about it. What if for some reason Aerith were separated from us in monster territory? Alone with a staff might buy her some time, but if she gets surrounded… Not that I'm hoping this'll happen to her, but she needs to be able to handle herself in extreme situations."

I got what they were saying, but Sephiroth made it sound so condescending.

"It's okay," Aerith said as she turned around. "I've been meaning to ask Serah to teach me, but I so caught up in the future of Cocoon. Sephiroth and Noel are right. I've thought the exact same things. I don't want to be a burden to anyone anymore." She turned towards Serah. "So please, could you teach me how to use magic?"

"Of course," Serah answered. "I'd love to."

"Well now that that's done, let's split up," Snow proposed. "Aerith needs to stay here and learn magic, but we also need to solve this paradox. So why don't half of us go find the artefact while the other half learns from Serah?"

"Alright, so how about the girls stay behind while the men go on the adventure through the forest?" Tifa prompted.

"Whoa, now hang on a second!" Snow protested. "I just got to meet Serah again after all this time. I can't just up and leave her again."

"I'm against this also," Sephiroth opposed. "I promised to keep Tifa safe. If I left I'd be breaking that promise."

"Well first, Snow. You seemed to leave Serah easily the first time. Besides, this time you won't be away for too long. Just come back with the artefact as quickly as possible. As for you, Sephiroth. You also promised to obey me from now on, so I'm ordering you to go find the artefact with the rest of the guys."

"But…" Snow and Sephiroth said simultaneously.

As much as I also wanted to stay with Aerith I knew Tifa would just counter whatever reason I had.

"No buts!" Tifa shouted.

"Well I guess that settles it," Noel stated. "The guys will find the artefact and the girls will learn magic until we get back."

Snow and Sephiroth sighed before turning around and leaving with Noel and me. At least I know that with Tifa and Serah, Aerith will be safe. And I know Aerith will be even stronger when I get back.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Finally! Aerith gets a POV. While writing previous chapters I sometimes forgot that she was even there to start with. But somewhere down the line, Zack seems like he's not there anymore. It's starting to be a pain keeping track of so many characters.

Anyway, if I screwed up the story let me know with a pm and leave a review if you feel like it.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the whole or any part of Final Fantasy or the characters involved in this story. This story is purely a work of fiction by a fan, hence the word "fanfiction."

* * *

~~~~~Zack's Point of View~~~~~

"This is a map of the area," Snow said as he handed a map to Noel. "Take it with you."

I looked down to a narrow ledge below us and saw a lot of the small flan jump down and follow each other.

"Wow, there sure are a lot of flan. Where're they all headed?" I asked.

"We follow them straight to the artefact. Well, maybe."

"It could happen," Noel supported. "They may be drawn by the space-time disturbance. Let's find out."

We made our way around back to the area with the giant flan, but for some reason it didn't seem to notice us, or rather it was just ignoring us. Just looking at it made me want to hit it one good time. I guess Sephiroth saw me staring at it and stepped in front of me.

"We can't win this, Zack, not now," he told me.

"Come on," Snow objected. "He looks like he's really up for it. Whaddya say we give it a shot and see what happens?"

"No. We have even less teammates and we're short one magic user. Also don't forget that finding the artefact is top priority."

Snow and I sighed and backed down from the giant flan to continue our search for the artifact. A few moments later, we came back up to the time gate and Mog's bobble started to glow just like in the Yaschas Massif. He went to the ledge past the gate and Noel gave the signal for him to fix the time distortion. The field Mog created revealed a bunch of small flans that traveled across the branches and disappeared into the trees. We went down the path they disappeared and Snow tried to make small talk.

"So Noel. You haven't told me why you're traveling through time."

"Long story short, I'm trying to save humanity." Noel summarized.

"Save humanity? Why? What happens to us?"

"I lived at the end of days. I've seen how we end. And I'm the only one who can change it."

Near the end of the path a lot of flan were gathering on a ledge above us.

"Hey," I interrupted. "This is where the flan were trying to get to, which means the artefact is right up ahead."

I was ready to get back to Aerith so I jumped up the ledge and saw at least fifty flan surrounding the artefact. But they were just the small easy ones so I drew the Buster Sword and started cleaning house. After killing about five of them, I looked back and saw the others just standing there on the edge of the ledge.

"Come on, help me out. The faster we take care of these guys the faster we can get back to the girls."

"Relax. The girls aren't going anywhere," Sephiroth assured.

"Yeah and besides," Snow added. "I wanna see you in action some more. How's about we make a bet. If you can kill all of the flan in under a minute I'll teach you how use the Protect and Shell spell."

I really didn't care about the magic at the moment. I just wanted to be by Aerith again. But it did motivate me to take out these things alone as a bonus. So I nodded and went back to killing the small flan. A few moments later, I finally finished off the last one and looked back at Snow to see if I made the time.

"Not bad, but you just missed it. You killed the last one on the sixtieth second."

"What? Are you serious?" I asked. "Come on you can let that slide can't you?"

"Nope. The deal was under a minute and you took exactly a minute. So no magic for you." Snow grinned.

"Well I'm impressed," Sephiroth praised. "The last time we made a bet like that together you went about another minute over the set time. You've improved a lot. I'm proud of you."

Wow, Sephiroth cheered me up. Didn't think that would happen for a while after the incident with the girls a little while ago. Noel grabbed the artefact from behind me and came back over to us.

"This is crystal, too," he said.

"I've seen crystals like this before. Right, Serah?" Snow trailed off and looked toward Cocoon's crystal pillar. "I hope it's true that you were dreaming. And I hope Fang and Vanille are dreaming right now. I hope they're happy in there.

"Well we got what we came here for," Sephiroth interrupted. "Shall we head back?"

We headed back through the trees and made it back to the time gate we got here from.

"Wait a moment," Sephiroth objected.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Noel asked.

"We've only been gone a few minutes, not enough time for the girls to actually learn magic at all. If anything I bet they've only learned the concept, but are unable to perform anything yet."

"Okay, so? What are you saying?" I asked. I really wanted to get back to Aerith and didn't want anything to stop us.

"I propose, in order to give the girls more time and accomplish our mission, we go and resolve the paradox ourselves."

"Are you crazy? That means we leave this place with them all alone by themselves. Didn't you want to protect Tifa?"

"They're not helpless little girls, Zack. Sometimes it's better that they have a little time to themselves without their "heroes" breathing down their necks."

"And what if that giant flan starts to attack them again?"

"That doesn't seem likely," Noel objected. "Remember when you ran up to it before we left? It definitely saw you, but it didn't do anything because your weapon wasn't drawn. It didn't sense any hostility, so as long as no one bothers it the girls will be safe."

"How can you be so sure? It's a wild monster?"

"Hey," Snow said as he put his hand on my shoulder. "I wanna get back to Serah just as much as you wanna get back to Aerith, but I think we should give 'em a bit more time to actually do what they need to. They'll be alright, trust me."

Even Snow's on their side now?

"You seem worried about their safety," Sephiroth said.

"Of course! Aren't you?" I asked.

"Not particularly, no. The three of us have confidence that they'll be all right because we know how strong they are. If you're that worried about Aerith, then that only proves my original point that she needs to get stronger. Give her some time Zack. She'll be safe until we get back."

I didn't want to believe what Sephiroth said. But maybe it was true. I don't think she'll be okay if I leave her here all by herself. Maybe he was right. Aerith needs to get stronger. After all she hates when people worry about her. And she did say she wanted to get stronger, herself. I swallowed my worries and went with the others.

"Ok. We'll go and solve the paradox ourselves. But after we do, we're coming straight back here, got it?" Sephiroth chuckled a little.

"Got it."

So instead of taking the path to the right of us, which would lead us to the girls, we went down the path to the left where a lot of other flan were headed. But unfortunately we didn't get very far because the path ended nearly as soon as it started.

"End of the road. Well it was fun and all, but I guess this means we get to go back to the girls," I said.

All of a sudden this giant monster that looked like a giant tree… fish… thing with a metal mask appeared out of nowhere. Snow and Sephiroth didn't seem phased by it in the slightest, which left me with a bad feeling.

"Come on, no way we can take that."

"Hey! Furball! Over here!" Snow yelled waving his hands.

"Are you trying to get us killed?" Snow ignored me and kept talking to it.

"Hey, big guy. We need to get through this valley. Mind givin' us a ride?"

The monster just turned around and ignored us.

"I don't think it heard you clearly," Sephiroth joked.

"No answer. Guess I'll take that as a yes."

Snow jumped onto the monster's back and started laughing and bouncing.

"Well whaddya know? I think he actually likes Snow jumping on his back," Noel said.

"He just had an itch that needed scratchin'. Come aboard; help me out!"

Sephiroth and Noel jumped down and joined Snow. Why did Sephiroth look like he was actually… content? He seemed so carefree all of a sudden. And after their first encounter, Noel and Snow seem to be getting along too. Well I guess I can't be a stick in the mud by myself, so I jumped on the beast's back and tried to make the most of the trip.

~~~~~Sephiroth's Point of View~~~~~

The trip on the beast's back wasn't very… abnormal, but also interesting. Who would've thought that a monster would willingly help a human being? Then again, Serah and Noel have monsters help them in battle so it's not entirely peculiar.

"Hey Mog. Can you check that out? Over there." Noel said pointing to a dim light between the tree branches.

"No. It's too far for me, Kupo," Mog replied.

"Okay. I'll throw you closer," Snow insisted.

"Kupokupo?"

"Good idea," I agreed. "We can broaden our search radius."

"Noel, please! Save Mog, kupo!"

"Good luck," Noel said.

Snow grabbed Mog, who protested with very heart-filled pleas, or kupos, and hurled the small creature at the spot where the light was. A brief moment later, Mog returned with an artefact.

"Hey, nice going, little guy," Snow praised.

Mog sounded melancholy for a little while after. Soon our "ride" started making a strange noise.

"I think he's in a good mood," Zack spectated.

"Maybe he's looking forward to the free lunch," Noel mused.

"No worries. If he does attack, we'll think of something," Snow assured.

"How have you even survived this long?"

A moment later, we came to the other end of the valley and the four of us hopped off the monster and onto the ledge that would continue our trek. As we continued along the path, we noticed a gate on another platform. But just like with the previous gate near the giant flan, we steered clear of this one as well. Something just told us we didn't need that gate just yet.

With no other path to follow, Noel lead us along the branches of the trees, which was headed in the direction of the flan. The branch of the tree we were on connected to the branch of another tree on a platform were many numerous flan were gathered.

"So this is where they were all trying to get to," Zack commented.

"Now let's see what all the fuss is about," Snow said.

"Let's break up the party and get our artefact," Noel declared.

"Actually," Zack interrupted before we jumped off the branch. "Why don't we let Sephiroth handle these guys? Let's give him a time attack challenge too."

"Hey great idea," Snow supported. "Let's see. It looks like there's about a hundred of these guys, so two minutes should be enough time, right?"

"Very well," I accepted.

I flipped off the branch and into the middle of the crowd of flan while drawing my sword. I took this chance to practice some of the techniques I used when I had Jenova's cells. If Jenova just made it easy to perform advanced combat and healing skills, then it should be possible to learn the same skills without her help and a little effort of my own.

First, I wanted to be able to fight from a distance so I tried to use a move I named Fervent Blow. I wanted to swing the Masamune and release multiple shockwaves from it that would slice my foes in half. Trying to fell the sensation I had with Jenova's cells, I swung my sword once and about four shockwaves came forth and hit a few of the flan. Although regrettably, none of the ones that were hit were cut in half, but they did in fact die. I did not regard that as a success and went through most of the flan with that same attack, strengthening it with each use until my goal was obtained.

After Fervent Blow was a success again, I decided to try another move I named Reaper, a move in which I release weaker shockwave from my sword, but use them to impale my enemy multiple times, eventually knocking them away. It was surprisingly easy to execute and exactly the way I remember it as well. Feeling satisfied, I proceeded to dispose of the additional flan with those two attacks and retrieved the artifact.

"Well?" I asked Snow, while handing the artifact over to Noel.

"One minute, thirty-five seconds," Snow replied. "Pretty impressive without magic."

"That's our second artefact, kupo," Mog noted.

"He's a weird little critter." Snow started poking Mog in various places, which looked to be irritating him. "Looks like he stepped right out of Nautilus. Hey there, feller."

"Nautilus?" Zack asked.

"Oh yeah, you're not from here. Nautilus is kind of a theme park for Cocoon."

"Oh I get it. Kind of like the Golden Saucer for us, huh, Sephiroth?"

"What's a theme park?" Noel asked.

Zack and Snow stared at Noel for a brief moment. I couldn't comprehend why. It's understandable that he has no idea what a theme park is, given his home world.

"Well it's a place where people go to just go on rides and have fun. I guess you only have them when times are peaceful and prosperous. Not like where you're from."

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Snow inquired.

"A place that doesn't have much in the way of fun or civilization. That's where I'm from." Noel retorted.

"Kind of reminds me of Vanille and Fang. Come to think of it, he's a lot like 'em."

"Really? How so?"

"They were born on Gran Pulse, just like you. Back then, on Cocoon, that was really unusual."

"We have things in common."

"I'll make sure to introduce them to you. One of these days."

I jumped back onto the tree branch and headed for the nearest time gate. The others followed soon after and a few moments later we ended up at the gate we passed earlier, right at the start of the trees.

"Okay. Let's do this," Snow said as he pounded his fists together.

"If you wanna try, be my guest." Apparently Noel knew something we didn't.

"What do you mean?" Zack asked.

"For every road, there's a different gate. If you try to use a gate that's meant for someone else, well…" Snow walked up to the gate, but was knocked back by a barrier. "See?"

"So beyond this point is just the three of us, correct?" I asked.

"Yep. Snow stays."

"Guess I drew the short straw," Snow complained.

"And don't you do anything foolish behind our backs, like try to take on giant flan single-handed."

"I'll be good."

Noel and Zack entered the time gate, but I stayed back and grabbed Mog before he entered as well.

"Mog," I started. "I want you to stay behind and go tell Serah when Snow tries to fight that flan."

"What? You don't-"

"No. A while ago, Noel and Serah told us about l'Cie, and the brand you have on your left arm seems to fit that description. If your focus concerns that giant flan then I have no objections to your actions, however, don't take any unnecessary risks. Always have someone by your side."

"Heh, no keepin' secrets from you. Alright, but don't tell anyone, especially not Serah. I don't want to worry her."

"I have no intention of doing so. They'll find out when it's necessary."

With one last look at what trouble I may have started, I turned around and entered the gate to follow Zack and Noel. But in all honesty, Snow wasn't the one I was worried about, not even Tifa at that moment. I had this apprehensive feeling that something I did would get Zack and I killed. I didn't know what it was just yet or how it would happen, but if anything, I'll need to be more cautious from now on.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Yeah yeah. I know I took a long time to update. College life is rough though. Plus I've been preoccupied with playing Tekken and had little desire to continue the story. Good news is that I'm also done with Chapter 9. Bad news is you're not getting it right away. Why? Because I'm not satisfied with the fight between Cl-I mean… … … … … RAWR!

Anyway don't hate me too much (if at all) about my timing and the length of this chapter. I'm still not accustomed to dedication to writing. So yeah, leave a review if you feel like it and if you have any questions or if something seems off in the story don't hesitate to send me a pm.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the whole or any part of Final Fantasy or the characters involved in this story. This story is purely a work of fiction by a fan, hence the word "fanfiction."

* * *

~~~~~Sephiroth's Point of View~~~~~

We ended up in a very dark and narrow area, well, narrow enough to house a time gate. We were atop a flight of stairs that lead to an open, spacious area at the bottom of it. Upon exploration, an ominous voice speaks to us.

"Who dares? Explain this intrusion!"

"What was that?" Zack asked.

"It seems as though we may have a fight on our hands," I presumed. "And this looks to be a good place to have it. Down there; to the center of the area."

I motioned for the rest of the party to follow me to the center of the building we were in. It looked to be a dome of some sort with a glass ceiling. I scanned the area for the source of the voice or any other signs of life.

"Travelers of the Void Beyond," the voice started again. "What are you seeking in this bloodstained place of war?"

"Up there!" Zack yelled as he pointed above us.

There was a being, most likely omnipotent from the dark aura surrounding it, that was cloaking itself but still plainly visible. Its silhouette resembled that of a giant human form.

"My domain exists outside the march of ages. It is unseen and unknown, beyond life and death. Until the day the bell of the goddess tolls, the realm welcomes not the living. Begone from here. You bring naught but calamity. My halls already play host to an omen of time-shattering misfortune. "

"An omen of misfortune?" Zack asked. "Something that doesn't belong here."

"Okay, then. We'll make you a deal!" Noel shouts.

"Begone, I say! Heed my words. Or face judgment at my hands!" the being threatens.

Omnipotent or not, I will not be underestimated. I begin to draw my sword, but Noel puts his hand in front of me, advising me to step down. I concede and back down.

"You want this omen gone from here right? Give it to us, and we'll leave you and your realm in peace. What do you say to that?"

The being glowed a bright white and disappeared, leaving an artefact and some final words.

"Take it, and leave this place. The Day of Reckoning has not yet come."

Noel catches the artefact as it drops and holds it up to us.

"Job well done, I guess."

"Yeah," Zack agreed. "We should get back to Snow. Who knows what he's up to right now."

"I hope he's still okay back there, but I bet he won't be waiting by the gate for us."

"No, I assume not. He's always just charging ahead," I commented.

"Charging ahead into an early grave. He acts like he's everyone's boss, just marches ahead, and never thinks how much danger he's putting himself in. Idiots like that, they're all the same. Their heads in the clouds, thinking self-sacrifice can somehow save everyone. But people die anyway."

"Do you have any hope?" I interrupted. "Fighting to protect others is not idiotic. I know from personal experience. Just before you rescued us outside of Midgar, I sacrificed myself to save Zack from a finishing blow that would have ended him. Even if you hadn't have come along, I know Zack would've survived, especially since Tifa woke back up at that time. He would have lived because I selflessly gave my life for him. Don't imply that it's all in vain."

"But you can tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Snow, he just took off and left Serah alone. He did what he wanted. Didn't care who he left behind, or who he hurt."

"I know the feeling, on both sides of the blade," a human voice sympathized. But the voice was grossly familiar.

"Cloud?" Zack muttered softly.

I turned around sharply to see the blonde haired man back from Nibelheim walking toward us alive and well. He gained a new outfit since our last encounter. One that suggests he would become our ally, mostly because the outfit was fully black, but something told me that was far from the case. He wore a high collar black shirt with no sleeves, black pants and boots, and black cloth covering his left leg and arm. He has an entirely new pauldron different from the military in Midgar, and two straps, held in place by a badge representing Fenrir, cover his chest.

Zack ran toward him to embrace him. But I killed that man. He fell and disintegrated into the mako reservoir in Nibelheim along with… no.

"Zack! Stop!" I yelled, but I was too late.

The blonde slammed the blade of his sword into Zack's torso and sent him flying towards the wall leaving a thick trail of blood splattering across the floor in his direction.

"Zack!"

"That's adorable," the man said. "You actually care for him now? Would've been nice if that were the case in Nibelheim."

"Noel," my voice was shaking with rage. "Go help Zack, now!" He ran to Zack without a word and I drew the Masamune prepared to counter anything he could do to prevent Noel from reaching Zack. "Cloud, was it?"

"You remember my name? I thought the only name you would ever remember was 'Mother.'"

"You will pay dearly for what you've done."

"Hm? For what _I've_ done?"

A green and black aura manifested itself at Cloud's feet and swirled itself upward around him.

"If anyone here needs to pay, it's you! You monster!"

The earlier aura burst forward and now brilliantly radiated from his body. He rushed forward at nearly blinding speed and swung his massive sword downward at my head attempting to split it open. Fortunately I blocked it before I met my demise, although now I was stuck in this spot desperately trying to stop the blade from reaching my head. Within seconds he forced me down to the ground on one knee, the blade of his sword still inching its way toward my head.

This fight was obviously out of my league. He was faster and clearly stronger than me to such an extent that I almost seemed helpless. Nothing but questions flooded my mind. Where did he get this power? How is he still alive? How did get here? Why did he attack Zack of all people? As death slowly made its way toward me the same answer to these questions kept repeating itself in my head… Jenova.

"You look like you finally realized it," Cloud growled. "That's right. Jenova gave me this power. The power to finally kill you for all you've done!"

"Stop it, Cloud! Can't you see you're being used?" I tried to reason.

Cloud started to chuckle and eventually it turned into a maniacal laughter. He jumped back towards the bottom of the stairs and put his sword on his back.

"Can't I see? Of course I can. I can see Jenova's using me to destroy the world. But you know what? I don't care."

"What?"

"When you sent me soaring off that platform into the mako reservoir back in Nibelheim I died and entered the lifestream, and Jenova was right there beside me. She woke me and asked me the one thing I wanted to hear most: 'Do you want revenge? I can give you the power to kill Sephiroth and everything that made him into who he is?'"

"And you said yes? Were you so infuriated by what I did that you would actually trust the thing that led me to destroy Nibelheim, your home?"

"Trust? You couldn't be more wrong. I hate the thing. She just offered me power and I took it. She helped me destroy the world that made you and now she's led me here to finally kill you."

"Destroy the-? Gaia?" His maniacal laughter grew louder.

"That's right! I destroyed Gaia! And I made it suffer too! Every last being on that planet played a part in creating you and I killed them all. You should've seen them crying out in agony. And the best part is… they all blamed you."

Several fire spells flew from behind me and made their way to Cloud. Unfortunately he just waved his massive sword and cut through each one, extinguishing them and leaving only a thin trail of steam. A moment later my two allies ran up to my side, Noel, with his swords drawn and Zack, with his sword still on his back, all three of us facing Cloud. Zack's countenance clearly revealed anger with a hint of sadness while he stared down the man that was once regarded as his friend.

"Cloud," he muttered as he lowered his head and clenched his fists. "Tell me it's not true. Tell me you're just lying! Answer me, Cloud!"

"You want an answer? Fine."

Cloud shoved his sword into the floor and pulled out a smaller sword from the massive one he used earlier. Without a second to spare, Noel and I got in front of Zack and blocked Cloud's attempt to impale him. Both of us managed to push him back, but it still required more effort than I anticipated. I turned towards Zack who was just staring at his former friend, still in shock.

"Zack!" I shouted. "This is the reality you must understand. The man you once knew is gone. The Cloud before us attempted to take your life not once, but twice. He is our enemy now. Noel and I can't protect you forever. If you don't fight back and die, then Noel and I will die as well." Zack still stood there with uncertainty. I held my sword with both hands in front of my face with it pointing upward and recited the words of an old friend. "Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honor… as SOLDIER."

Zack looked toward me with a surprised countenance. He drew his sword and mimicked what I had just done.

"Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honor… as SOLDIER," he repeated. "Cloud. I don't know what happened to you, but… I swear I will change you back."

Cloud chuckled and we all took our battle stances.

At the start of the battle I thought I'd try my hand at challenging him to swordplay and, to my surprise, he was actually having trouble defending my blows, or at least it seemed that way. Zack ran around to the back of Cloud and held up four fingers, signaling he was ready to synch our Octaslash attacks. I nodded and swung my sword with more force to stagger Cloud on block, knocking him back a few feet.

Zack and I rushed up to him before he regained his balance each of us slashed one of his shoulder blades. Next we both cut each of his vital organs, meaning his lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas, heart, and as we passed by him with the final blow, his brain.

I turned around to see him lying on the ground with the green and black aura slowly dissipating. At that moment my brain processed two ideas. The first being Cloud is going to restore his body somehow like Caius had done and flee, or he was actually dead and Jenova was going to take over his corpse. Either way, I knew we were not done with this fight.

"Guh!"

Zack and I turned around toward the stairs to see Noel the ground with a sword piercing his stomach. And as I expected, Cloud is right there hovering above him unscathed.

"Now that your medic is out of the way," Cloud started as he drew another sword from the massive one. "Let's get this started."

He throws the sword at me, which I easily dodged. He grabs another sword and throws it at Zack, who evades it as well. He throws one more at me and one more at Zack. Although we dodged every one of his attacks and he is left with one sword, I felt a bit uneasy. He took the original blade out of Noel's stomach and jumped into the air above us.

"The clone!" Noel shouted.

The 'Cloud' we defeated previously sprung back to life and dash past me slashing my abdomen. Trying to withstand the pain, I saw the corpse grab two of the swords the original Cloud threw earlier and ran past Zack in an attempt to slash him, although he managed to block the blow. The corpse grabbed another sword and ran back towards me with the same attack, which I also blocked. He grabbed the last sword and ran at Zack with the same attack, which again, was also blocked.

"Look out!" Noel shouted again.

The original Cloud dropped down and slammed the tip of his blade into the ground between Zack and I, causing pillars of stalagmite to erupt forth and pierce our bodies. Pain made itself at home throughout my body. It hurt to breathe. I looked down and saw the rocks piercing multiple spots, including my heart and lungs. I always knew I was going to die in battle, but this…? Why did it have to be this fight? Why did I have to lose this time?

Before death consumed me I managed to squeeze out just one last thing…

"Tifa."

~~~~~Cloud's Point of View~~~~~

Tifa? His last word was the name of my childhood friend? Speaking of which, I need to go and free her from those other rats. I guess I should bring back Sephiroth's head just to show that I avenged her back in Nibelheim.

"Leave him," Jenova ordered. "Take care of those other pests."

"Tch, fine." I look over to the man in blue lying on the floor reaching toward Sephiroth and Zack. "You want to join them?"

"You monster," he replied.

"Leave him to die. You have other priorities right now," Jenova ordered.

I walked over to my clone and retrieved the other Fusion Swords as he disappeared. Letting Jenova and the lifestream's aura envelop me, I muttered to myself…

"I'm on my way, Tifa."

~~~~~Zack's Point of View~~~~~

"Come on. Wake up Zack. Don't die on me," a familiar voice said.

A mysteriously soothing liquid was flowing down my throat as the voice spoke to me. My wounds were quickly, almost instantly, healed and all of my strength was restored. I opened my eyes and saw Noel knelt down beside me with a colorful bottle in his hand.

"Thank goodness I got to you in time," he said.

"Wait, what was that?" I asked.

"I'll explain everything on the way. Right now we have to hurry back to the girls. Cloud's going to kill them."

"What?"

Noel threw the bottle away and ran for the time gate. I followed him after getting the Buster Sword from beside me. We went through the gate and Noel started telling me everything.

"Cloud said he was on his way to Tifa and then disappeared in that greenish black aura. I got out our elixir and drank some of it. I gave some to Sephiroth and the rest to you."

"Wait so where's Sephiroth?"

"He rushed on ahead after I told him Cloud was after Tifa."

"He went after Cloud by himself? Is he crazy?"

"That's what I said. But he couldn't wait until I gave you the elixir to go after him. He said if Tifa dies, his life is meaningless."

"Damn it, Sephiroth."

We exit the Historia Crux back to the gate where we left Snow. Surprisingly he was still there with Mog.

"Yo, what's goin' on?" Snow asked. "Sephiroth came flyin' outta the gate and took off."

"The girls are in serious danger. We have to get back, now," Noel told him.

"Danger? That flan's not doing anything to them. If anything, it's calmed down. H-hey!"

Noel and I ran off in the middle of Snow's sentence. We didn't have time to sit around and explain things to him. We took the path back to the giant treelike monster from earlier and hopped on.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" I complained.

"Wait how Sephiroth get across the valley without this guy's help?" Snow asked.

"I think I found your answer," Noel responded.

In front of us were countless numbers of dead flan scattered throughout the valley. I guess Sephiroth didn't have time to wait for a ride and just ran through the valley.

"Whoa. Whatever's after the girls, it must be really strong to do all of this," Snow commented.

"I'm pretty sure Sephiroth did all of this," I said.

"Really? Well I feel bad for the 'danger' he's after. If he did all of this."

We got to the other side of the valley and rushed back to the area with the girls. When we got to the area with the giant flan, Sephiroth was there with the girls, and so was Cloud. Although everyone, even the giant flan, looked like they had taken a serious beating. Well everyone except for Tifa and Cloud.

"Aerith!" I screamed. She had the least amount of injuries out of the entire group but it was still pretty bad. "Cloud." He ignored me but started talking to him a moment later.

"What? They're completely helpless! I can kill them right now!" he ranted. He withdrew his sword and the greenish black aura started to envelop him. "You got lucky this time. But I swear the next time we meet, you're all dead."

Cloud disappeared into the aura and the giant flan started to attack us as soon as he was gone. Noel, Snow, and I helped everyone get back to our original safe area by the time gate. We all took a breather and Serah started healing herself. And amazingly, Aerith and Tifa started to heal themselves as well.

"Hey! You know how to use magic!" I was elated to see Aerith using magic without materia. I knew she could do it, but as happy as I was, she looked really down. "Come on, he's gone. We can relax now, right?"

Tifa got up as soon as she finished healing herself and went over to heal Sephiroth.

"What happened before we got here?" Noel asked Serah.

"Let's not talk about it right now," she replied. "Let's just try to forget all of this and focus on resolving the paradox.

No one said a word after that. After everyone was healed we took a break and just sat in silence with each other. After about half an hour later, Sephiroth got up.

"We should get moving," he started. "We have three artefacts so far. Let's use one to go through this gate. Any objections?" No one said anything. "Alright then. Sorry Snow, but you'll have to stay behind again."

"No worries," Snow responded.

The rest of us got up and went through the time gate to continue our journey. I knew resolving the paradox was our top priority, but I couldn't help but wonder what happened between Cloud and the others. I knew right now wasn't the best time so I just kept my mouth shut until I could find a good time to ask.

Cloud was once my friend on Gaia. But everything changed after the Nibelheim incident. I wonder what things would be like if that day never happened. How would our lives be if none of that had ever happened? It's pretty hard to imagine after all that's happened to us so far, though. But I guess it doesn't matter. This is our life now, and all we can do is keep moving forward.

* * *

**Author's Note**: It's 4:20am and I'm tired, but I feel like I should say stuff. Uh… … … oh! Next chapter is going to be a flashback chapter, well half flashback, I don't know. Annnd… … … I guess that's it.

Let me know if anything doesn't make sense or if you have any questions via pm. Leave a review if you feel like it.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the whole or any part of Final Fantasy or the characters involved in this story. This story is purely a work of fiction by a fan, hence the word "fanfiction."

**Author's Note**: I said it before, but just in case anyone forgot, this is a flashback chapter describing what happened between Cloud and the others before Zack, Noel, and Snow met back up with them.

* * *

~~~~~Sephiroth's Point of View~~~~~

"Sephiroth. Sephiroth," a faint voice called.

My body that was once bathed in agony was now being enveloped in a warm and soothing feeling. As I was regaining consciousness, I noticed I was drinking something and that Noel was standing over me serving it. I was slightly confused. I thought I had died, but remembered that I had been saved from certain death twice so far. This would make it the third time hell has yet to claim me.

"Alright. I made it in time," Noel told himself. "Get up, Sephiroth. We need to help the girls. Cloud's after Tifa."

"What?" I grab the Masamune from beside me and rush for the gate. The last thing I need is anyone of them getting hurt, or worse.

"Wait! Are you trying to get yourself killed again? You can't go by yourself. I need to give Zack the elixir first before we can go."

"There's no time. If she dies then what's the point of my life? I live for her and her alone. I can't wait for you, Zack, or anyone else."

I ignored anything else Noel had to say and entered the time gate. When I arrived back at the forest I hastened my advance towards the spot where we last met the girls. The beast that had helped us cross the valley was no longer there, but a ton of other flan were. There was no time for idling so I jumped down and instantly dealt with any flan in my way.

For some reason every flan in the valley decided to make it their number one priority to slow me down. I tried to save time by going around and jumping over some of them, but whenever I did they seemed to try to rush me from every direction. I had no choice but to kill each and every one that stood in my way, which ultimately consumed a great deal of my time.

After I had reached the other side I went back into a full sprint past the giant flan and met back up with the girls. I seemed to have scared them when I arrived judging from their screams, but at least they were alive and well.

"Sephiroth?" Serah screamed. "What are you doing here scaring us like that all of a sudden? And where are Snow and the others?"

Tifa clenched her fists and shot me a glare. It seems her mind drifted back to the night of Nibelheim.

"They're on their way," I tried to assure her. "But we have a more urgent matter to attend to."

"What a coincidence. So do I," that deathly voice said. "You're still alive."

I turned around and drew my sword, prepared to defend everyone. Before I could even admonish them to run, one word caught my attention.

"Cloud?" Tifa muttered softly.

"It's been a while, Tifa," Cloud responded.

"A friend of yours?" Serah asked.

She just stared at him in silence. I was just as shocked as she was not because he was here in front of us, but by the fact that she actually knew him. She took a step forward, but I threw my arm in front of her to prevent her from going any further.

"Stay away from him, Tifa." I told her, but it seems my words fell on deaf ears.

"Cloud," she started. "What are you doing here? How did you get here? What's going on?" The squeaking in her voice got stronger with every question asked until she started sobbing.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Cloud said as he averted his eyes.

"I don't care. You're here and you're alive." She finally realized that I was in opposition to Cloud's presence because her kind voice when she was speaking to Cloud changed into a threatening one when she spoke to me. "Sephiroth? What are you doing?"

"Trying to protect you," I answered.

"Protect?" Cloud spat. "I didn't think a monster like you knew a word like that."

"Was your wish not to get revenge and kill me? Why come after Tifa? She was a victim of that dreadful night as well."

"Exactly, because she is the only one in existence who shares and understands my hatred for you. I've come to take her away from this fate Etro's forced on her. Tifa…"

Cloud extended his hand outward for Tifa to accept. Although it was clearly a sign for Tifa to accept, I interpreted it as preparation for an attack and stepped in to try and counterattack. Regrettably it was in vain as he evaded the attack.

"You must really love the smell of blood on your hands to attack me so suddenly. Are you going to set fire to the forest and kill everything here as well?"

"You are a threat and must be dealt with accordingly. The last thing I'll allow is for Tifa to be harmed."

"Harmed? You practically killed her back in Nibelheim!" Cloud exclaimed.

"That was-"

"Jenova? Take a good look at this." he held out his right hand and a black mist formed itself in his palm. "Jenova is inside me too, but unlike you, I would never hurt Tifa."

"She's allowing you freedom. When she finally gets Tifa alone, she'll force you to kill her. I'm trying to protect her."

"And what makes you think we're going to trust a murderer? I would never hurt Tifa."

"Jenova is not going to give you a choice in the matter. That's the kind of being she is."

"Enough!" Tifa screamed. "This is your only chance, Sephiroth. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't go with Cloud."

She's serious. I had to think carefully. What can I say to make her stay? Multiple scenarios quickly made their way through my mind.

"_We need to finish this journey together." I argued_

"_So you don't care about me. Should've guessed. It's all about completing the mission." Tifa replied._

No. That's foolish.

"_I've protected you with Zack the entire time you were suffering from mako addiction. I vowed to make it up to you."_

"_So once you have, that's it then. It's just for your self-atonement. Typical."_

Damn. That'll make it seem as though I couldn't care less about her.

"_Fine. Forget about me. But what about Serah and the others? Are you just going to leave them?"_

"_I only stayed because I had nowhere else to go. So I put up with you for all this time. I like the others, but I hate you more."_

Dammit. All of these excuses are nothing more than mediocre. What can I say? Nothing will be decent enough to persuade her.

"So that's it? Fine," Tifa said as she began walking toward Cloud.

"I won't ask why you won't stay with me. But why go with him of all people?" I asked in a final attempt to save her.

"Why not? What do you know about him? He's not a murderer like you."

"You seem certain. I know more than you think. Would destroying Gaia not be considered at act of murder? How much do you know about Cloud?" She stopped and turned back towards me.

"I know that he's my friend. And even if he destroyed Gaia, wouldn't you have done the same if Zack and I hadn't stopped you?"

"If I recall correctly, it was Cloud himself who freed me from Jenova's control. Cloud came with us to Nibelheim that day, you know, as one of the infantrymen with us. Yet he made no attempt to show himself to you."

"Is that so? As much as I did want to see him, he still did the one thing that mattered. He kept our childhood promise; he came to help me when I was in a pinch. If what you say is true, then the both of us together succeeded in taking you down, although it cost him his life."

"Why do you insist on defending him? Now that our roles are reversed, you still resent me. Does Jenova mean nothing to you? He virtually killed Zack, Noel, and myself while we were away."

"I guess that's one thing I should be mad about; that he didn't finish the job and killed you and Zack." Serah, Aerith, and I were nothing less than flabbergasted. "I feel bad for Noel, but at least he's alive now."

"Do you hear yourself? You are supporting everything, in addition to much worse actions, I've done while I was possessed by Jenova! Tell me! Tell me what makes him so different from me?"

"Because he did it all for me. That's proof that he loves me more than your fake love."

She walked up to Cloud and leaned in to kiss him. My body froze at the gruesome scene that played before me. I watched in pain, agony, and horror as I lost the only woman to the man who became an even worse form of myself. There was nothing I could do to stop it.

But then, something happened.

~~~~~Aerith's POV~~~~~

I couldn't believe Tifa would say such a thing. Sephiroth's heart was shattered. Why would she do that to him? I know what Sephiroth did was bad, but Cloud was pure evil. I don't know Cloud at all, but I know Sephiroth. He's sincere. Even though he tries to fool others on the outside, he's a good and honest person on the inside. And I know he truly loves Tifa.

"Let's go, Tifa," Cloud said after they broke away from each other.

I had to say something to help Sephiroth. I couldn't stand by let things end like this. I was about to speak, until Sephiroth grabbed his sword. What happened next was incredible. In an instant, he ran past Cloud and a second later he was covered in sword wounds. His body rapidly jolted in different directions until he finally flew and slammed into a branch of the crystal pillar.

"Let me explain something to you, boy," Sephiroth threatened in a dark voice. "Tifa isn't going anywhere. She will never become a toy for Jenova like trash such as you. She will stay with us. You will die by my hand. And we will eliminate Jenova."

"Really?" Cloud said as he got to his feet. "You just made the biggest mis-UGH,"

Cloud writhed in pain as Sephiroth impaling his chest interrupted him. As cruel as it may look, Cloud deserves what happening to him. I can't forgive him for killing all the people on Gaia, for breaking Sephiroth's heart, and most of all, hurting Zack.

Having seen enough, Tifa jumped above them and came down with a swift downward kick aimed at Sephiroth, which he easily dodged.

"Cloud. Are you okay?" Tifa said as she used a cure spell on Cloud. He nodded and they both took their battle stances. "There's no way you can win this, Sephiroth. Not only is Cloud here with me, but I'm a lot stronger than you now."

"That may be so, but I don't recall either of you ever taking out over half the Shinra army. You may surpass me in terms of strength, but certainly not experience. Allow me to show you the meaning of true strength."

"Aerith, we shouldn't be here. Let's get somewhere safe until things calm down," Serah suggested.

"But what if Sephiroth needs our help?" I asked.

"If my sword ever leaves my hands, I'll be counting on you two for assistance," Sephiroth told us. "Also, stay far away from Cloud as possible. He has a tendency to take out the enemy's support first. I don't want to see another comrade become injured, or worse."

Serah and I nodded and ran to a safe area where we could still see the fight and help Sephiroth. The fight started and, generally, Sephiroth looked like he was only fighting Cloud. Every time Tifa would try to challenge him, he would catch one of her punches or something and throw her to the side. And when he would fight Cloud, he would always get in at least two hits before Tifa came back to help him. Cloud noticed and stopped after a bit.

"This is pointless," he said. He glanced back toward the giant flan. "From what I was told, you were having trouble fighting that thing, right?"

"Told? Who told you?" Sephiroth asked.

"Tifa, think you can hold him off for about thirty seconds?"

"Yeah, I think. I'll keep you safe," Tifa responded.

Cloud flew onto a branch of a tree near the giant flan and started to charge a spell.

"You'll keep him safe?" Sephiroth repeated. "You're such a fool!"

Sephiroth swung his sword and a shockwave came from it just like the one he used on the giant flan. He actually aimed it at Cloud, but Tifa jumped in front of it and kicked it back toward him. He only stood still because it actually went straight past him and cut down a tree.

"Did Jenova tell you to do that?" Tifa looked surprised, and kind of scared. "You still don't understand. Cloud destroyed Gaia, but what do you think happened to the lifestream and mako energy? Do you think Jenova would simply abandon all that power and come to this world to try and do the same thing?"

"What are you talking about?" Tifa asked.

"Jenova has evolved far greater than what we remember. She's using your relationship with Cloud to possess your body as well. And she knows you won't question it. You think it's your bond with Cloud that made you believe you could deflect that attack. You know nothing, but trust everything about him. I will never let harm come to you."

I didn't understand entirely what Sephiroth said, but I do know he truly cares for Tifa and is trying to save her from something horrible. I just wish she could understand that. But no matter what he does, Sephiroth's feelings aren't getting through to her. I'm afraid that if we don't do something, we might lose Tifa.

~~~~~Tifa's Point of View~~~~~

He won't let harm come to me? Is he serious? He's done more than enough harm to me already. He took away my home, my family, and now he's trying to take away my best friend. There's no way I'll ever let him take anything from anyone again.

I heard the giant flan roar behind me, and turned around to see it turn a blackish green color, just like Cloud's aura.

"Get back, Tifa," Cloud called out. "This thing will handle him for us. Then we can finish him off."

Sephiroth didn't even look phased that Cloud took control of the giant flan. He just stared at Cloud as it made its way toward him. What was he waiting on? He ran back, grabbed Serah and Aerith, and came back with them to the same spot as before. He whispered something to them, but I couldn't make out what it was.

"Tifa. Make sure those two don't cast any spells."

I nodded in response. I really don't want to fight Serah and Aerith, but as long as they're helping Sephiroth I have to think of them as my enemy. Wait a minute. Cloud said to stop them from using spells, not fight them. So all I have to do is restrain them.

"Now!" Sephiroth ordered.

Serah and Aerith casted two spells on themselves. One was the same spell Snow used when we were fighting the giant flan and another one that also looked like a barrier. After that, they just ran back to the edge of the area and stood in against a tree.

"Cloud, I don't think they're going to help him. They just put protection on themselves and ran away."

Cloud didn't say anything. He just watched as the giant flan approached Sephiroth, but something weird happened when it got to him; it just stopped. Sephiroth stared at it for a moment and suddenly it turned around and swung its arm at us. Did Sephiroth take control of it?

"Damn you, Sephiroth!" Cloud shouted.

The flan breathed out the toxins from when we first fought it, and directly after, it shot a huge fire spell at Cloud. I was still coughing from the toxins so I couldn't really do much of anything. And actually, I think the toxins got stronger than last time. It hurt to breathe, my body was burning, and I was slowly losing consciousness as I fell to the ground. I felt someone lift me up, take me somewhere, and laid me back on the ground. I moment later I felt something warm flow inside me and thought that Cloud had saved me.

But when I opened my eyes I looked beside me and Aerith was casting healing spells on me. When I was fully recovered, I got up and tried to thank her, but Sephiroth grabbed my arm before I could say anything and threw me over the giant flan back to Cloud. I recovered partway through the air and landed on my feet, but I was still mad that he manhandled me like that.

"Tifa, are you okay?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah. Thanks to Aerith," I told him.

"He's playing you. He took you over there to those girls and healed you to try to win your trust."

So Sephiroth took me over there. That explains it.

"Don't worry. I'll never trust him."

Cloud and I readied ourselves and fought off the giant flan together. After a while of fighting, we finally managed to knock it out, but I was exhausted and needed to rest. But then I remembered Sephiroth was still there. He hadn't moved from his same spot since Cloud and I started fighting the flan.

"Tifa," Cloud started. "I need you to help me a little while longer."

"Can't you see she needs to rest?" Sephiroth objected.

"Like you care about her! You used that monster to try and kill her!"

"I seem to recall getting her to safety after the toxin infected her. I also seem to recall the flan never attacking Tifa directly. She was never targeted and never hit. If the flan attacked her, it was because you were right there beside her. You put her in danger, Cloud. I care for her like a father does his daughter. I would never allow her to be harmed."

I thought the flan was going after Cloud because it saw him as the greater threat. I forgot that Sephiroth was the one controlling it. But it didn't matter.

"Nothing will ever matter," I mumbled. "You're still trying to take everything away from me! You're not doing anything different than what you did in Nibelheim! Why won't you just die and leave me alone?"

"Because you won't let me. I've been trying to get you to kill me ever since we arrived in Midgar, but you wouldn't do it. So I've tried protecting you, but you wouldn't allow me to do that either. You don't know what you want, so I'm deciding for you."

"Who are you to decide my life? You are NOT my father! You took him away from me! Remember?" He didn't say anything after that. He stood there staring at me. "Cloud, let's end this."

He nodded and we both rushed straight for Sephiroth. This time I didn't give him a chance to just throw me aside and go for Cloud. Although he never hit me, he wasn't ignoring me either. In fact, it looked like he was more focused on me than on Cloud, until he took a direct hit. In the middle of my attack to follow up Cloud's slash Sephiroth dropped his sword, parried my punch, grabbed my vest, and threw me at Cloud, who was headed toward Serah and Aerith. I slammed straight into Cloud's back and we both fell to the ground. By the time I got up and saw Sephiroth again he was over in front of Serah and Aerith.

"I am your opponent," Sephiroth professed. "You would do well to remember that."

Sephiroth ran straight toward Cloud looking to impale him. I've had enough of him treating me like I don't exist. On reflex I stepped in front of Cloud and tried to stop the Masamune from piercing his heart, but as soon as I did, everything froze. The blade that I though was intended as a stab at Cloud's heart instantly turned into a horizontal swipe that stopped less than an inch away from my neck. With speed like that I should be dead right now, but for some reason and somehow Sephiroth was able to stop the killing blow.

Before I could say anything Cloud spun around me and continued to fight Sephiroth. I was still stunned at why I was still alive, and after a brief moment of thinking it finally hit me. I watched carefully at the duel between the two and waited for when Cloud was vulnerable to an attack. The second I saw Cloud staggering from a block I decided to take a chance and test my theory.

I threw myself in front of Sephiroth's attack. If he cares for me like he said then he wouldn't ever hurt me. As anticipated, Sephiroth's attack stopped in its tracks before it reached my body. I used that moment to counter attack with a good swift punch to his jaw and knock him upward. Cloud followed up with a jumping overhead swing and knocked him back down towards me. I ended the assault with a roundhouse kick, knocking him into a nearby tree.

"He won't hurt me," I said to Cloud. "All we have to do is get him to try to hit you and when I step in he'll be vulnerable. We can win this."

"It looks that way," Cloud spectated. "But how long do you think it'll last?"

A moment later Sephiroth gets back up and Aerith casts a few cure spells on him. He mutters something to Serah and Aerith, probably some type of strategy, and runs straight for Cloud. Again, after Cloud's guard is broken, I throw myself in front of him thinking that the same tactic would work. Sephiroth still stopped his attack, but I immediately heard a lightning attack and Cloud scream.

I turned around to try to help him, but Sephiroth yanked my vest again and threw me pretty far away from him. By the time I recovered, he had already thrown Cloud by me too.

"Cloud, are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said while I casted a cure spell on him. He paused for a moment. "Tifa, can you try that tactic one more time? I'm sure I can kill him with one blow if you can get him to stop."

"Of course, Cloud."

"Don't attack him. Just make sure you stay in front of me."

Once Cloud and Sephiroth started fighting again, I waited for my chance to intercept his attack. I was ready to finish this and end this nightmare. I saw Cloud stagger from a block and just as Sephiroth was about to attack I stepped in and protected Cloud.

All of a sudden, an enormous pain ripped through my chest. Sephiroth's eyes grew wide with shock and trails of blood starting flowing out of his mouth. When I looked down, I saw a huge sword soaked in blood halfway through my chest while the tip penetrated Sephiroth's heart. I couldn't even express emotion over what had just happened, although it was clearly obvious. Cloud had sacrificed me in order to take down Sephiroth.

The already searing pain became unbearably intense as the blade slid to the left and cut a path out of our bodies. I know I was crying. I had to be. Not because of the wound I received, but because the last person alive who I thought actually understood me, had just took my life. As I lied on the ground bleeding to death, I saw Sephiroth stand up and say something I was just barely able to make out.

"Forgive me, Tifa."

~~~~~Sephiroth's Point of View~~~~~

"Forgive me, Tifa," I cried. "Because of my carelessness, I let you get hurt. I truly am sorry."

"Why won't you just die already?" Cloud shouted as he swung his sword at me.

I absorbed all of Jenova's power Cloud was letting leak out, becoming the One Winged Angel, and deflected his attack, knocking him back. I saw Aerith, along with Serah, run up to us, her eyes overflowing with tears. All of this suffering because I wanted to prove a point.

"Aerith," I told her. "You and Serah take Tifa and get back. I'm going to make him pay for what he's done."

"But your wound," she tried to reason.

"Now!"

I was far from the mood to argue with anyone. They got Tifa up and carried her back to the spot they were before and started healing her.

"That wing," Cloud started. "You stole Jenova's power, you monster."

"Monster." I slashed at him as he block. "I'm fed up with everyone calling me that." I attacked him again. "I am no longer possessed by Jenova." Another slash. "I didn't destroy Gaia and its inhabitants for the sole purpose of revenge." Another. "I didn't cross time and space to kill my best friend along with my target." And with one last attack his sword shattered into pieces and he was left defenseless.

"No. What I did was regain my senses." I cut through his flesh as he writhed in pain. "I protected my friends." Again I slashed his vulnerable body. "I protected her in every battle since my awakening." Strike. "I accepted her hatred and resentment." Strike. "I offered her my life twice." Strike. "I cared for her." Strike. "And most importantly…" Cloud's body was bloody and broken. With one last blow I impaled his forehead and lifted him up off the ground. "…I love Tifa."

His body evaporated into thin air along with all of Jenova's power and the black wing from my back had disappeared as well. I was satisfied that I had succeeded in defeating the man who would take Tifa away from me, but still had mixed feelings about how she would react. Would she hate me even more? He was the only person who she had known from her home that came back to life to see her, and I took him away for the second time.

I heard footsteps approach from behind me, but didn't turn around to greet them.

"Your wound's healed," Tifa said in a soft tone. There was a slight moment of silence between us until I heard Aerith whisper.

"Go on. Tell him."

"Listen, Sephiroth. I-I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked as I turned around. "I just killed your best friend for the second time. Are you not furious?"

"Real friends protect and care for each other. It took a while for that to get through to my head." She started to blush. "You never tried to hurt me. And you fought to protect everyone. So…"

"Stars! Rain down!" a deathly familiar voice shouted.

Meteorites appeared and stormed us from above. There was nowhere to run so I stood my ground and tried to cut them down as they came our way. But with the absence of Jenova's power, my skills proved to be ineffective and we were all struck down within mere seconds.

"You're not much without Jenova are you, Sephiroth?" the same voice said from above me.

It was blatantly definite that the voice belonged to Cloud. He clenched my hair and lifted me up from the ground to have eye contact with me.

"Why are you still alive?" I spat.

"I could ask you the same thing. Jenova said that you had survived our last encounter and that the clone I sent for Tifa had been defeated."

"A clone?"

Cloud had a smile on his face and slammed his fist into my gut repeatedly until I coughed up blood. Afterwards, he continually punched me in the face but stopped after only a few hits.

"Seven. Isn't that how many times you did it?" I hadn't the slightest clue as to what he was referring to, but he seemed satisfied enough to drop me and walk away. "I'm going to make you feel the pain of having those you care about suffer before your eyes."

Looking up, I saw him walk over Serah and Aerith and proceeded to mercilessly beat them. Every punch just boiled my blood even more. Despite my own injuries, I used what little strength I had left to run over and stop him. But before I could reach him, Tifa emerged from nowhere and kicked him away from our party.

"What do you think you're doing, Tifa?"

"Protecting my friends," she retorted.

"Friends? You think that monster is your friend? Did you forget Nibelheim?"

"At least he doesn't cut through his friends to kill his enemies."

"You really think I would kill you? I ordered that clone to use you to kill Sephiroth. I would've used Jenova to revive you and make you a part of her. As long as she lives, we can't be killed. You don't want to spend eternity with me?"

"A part of her? Are you insane? I don't want to have anything to do with her! It's her fault any of this started in the first place! I don't want to want to be tied down by her and I don't want to spend my life with someone like you."

"Aerith!" Zack screamed.

He, Noel, and Snow had finally made it. As Cloud disappeared in the greenish-black aura, I breathed a sigh of relief. I would loathe to think what would happen if they hadn't shown up at that moment. We reached safety and regrouped for about a half hour. The last thing any of us wanted to do was remember everything we went through just a short while ago.

In this journey we were going to be confronted by paradoxes, powerful enemies, and our own past. And right now, two of the three seem to be almost impossible to overcome. I can't erase the Nibelheim incident from our past and I can't defeat Cloud without Jenova's power. But many precious lives are at stake and as long as I'm able to draw breath I will never give up.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Sorry for the extremely long wait, but I just haven't had much time to write lately. Granted the main reason for that is Tekken, but that's not the point. Point is I'm sorry and I'll try to be faster on my updates. I wanted to get this chapter over and done with before the New Year, but that obviously did not happen and again, I am sorry.

Now for my thoughts on the chapter. I thought I worked too much on the fight scenes and kind of fell short on developing character relationships. I think I described everything accurately, but that may be because it sounds better in my head more so than it sounds on paper. I don't know. I'm stupid.

Ok so a question that might have been on your minds throughout this whole chapter… "How did all of this happen before Zack and the others showed up?" That question will be answered next chapter… hopefully.

Anyway I would appreciate it if you would tell me if I messed something up in a pm because I'm not gonna notice even if I did reread this entire chapter. So yeah leave a review if you feel like it. I'm gonna go play Tekken :D


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the whole or any part of Final Fantasy or the characters involved in this story. This story is purely a work of fiction by a fan, hence the word "fanfiction."

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~~~~~Aerith's Point of View~~~~~

Well we finally arrived at our next destination, but it wasn't exactly the most pleasant place to be. The sky was cloudy and dull everything seemed to be devoid of life. This is definitely not a place I want to be right now, especially after our battle with Cloud. This just looks like another place to have a big fight. I wanted to leave, but I knew we had a job to do here.

"Look out!" Zack said as he pulled me out of the way of a chocobo. A group of people were riding chocobos and chasing something.

"Look," Noel said. "That's their prey." I looked out in front of their group and saw them chasing two vicious-looking monsters. "They seem desperate. Like they gotta get this one, or they'll be nothing else to eat."

"Really?" Serah asked. "I guess you have to be a hunter to tell."

"Let's introduce ourselves."

We visited the hunter's camp to try to get an idea of what's going on, but it was a bit awkward to ask anyone. They all gave us strange looks as we were walking by. I guess it wasn't that weird considering a random group of strangers just came into their home uninvited, but it was still pretty uncomfortable. Noel lead us up some stairs into a small shack where a man stood waiting.

"Listen, we could do with an extra arm. You help us and I'll give you this map. If you're here to hunt, find someplace else," the man told us.

"What a way to ask strangers for help," Zack retorted.

"You guys aren't exactly hauling it in. Prey getting scarce?" Noel asked.

"Yes," the man replied. "Ever since that storm blew up. These lands were teeming with game before that. Friends went to investigate the storm, but they never came back."

"At least we know why they were so eager to catch those monsters. But this storm, it seems abnormal. Can you tell us anything about it?" Sephiroth asked.

"So you want to know what brought on the storm. My friends are out there assessing the situation, but even if I knew, I wouldn't tell anyone that wasn't a hunter."

"But Noel's a hunter," Serah added.

"Don't look so surprised; she's right, you know."

"Really? Then you wouldn't mind if I put you to the test. Let's see what you can do. We've been getting harassed by a pack of monsters lately. Think you can get rid of them for us?"

"I don't see why not. That alright with everyone?" Noel asked. No one objected to the idea. "Well alright then."

"We're counting on you. No one knows why they appeared all of a sudden. What are they after?"

We left the camp to search in the fields close by and I noticed as we were walking that Sephiroth had a disgruntled look on his face. I thought it might have something to do with what happened with Cloud so I left him alone. Soon we found a group of weird-looking monsters that basically looked like green circles with arms and legs. They kind of reminded me of that honey-flavored cereal I used to eat when I was little. It's been so long I forgot what it was called. Zack and Noel made short work of the monsters and we started to head back to the camp.

Before we even made it anywhere, I saw Tifa and Sephiroth staring at a red cactuar statue. We went over to take a closer look at it, seeing as how it was all the way out here in the fields. But as soon as Tifa touched it an orange aura surrounded us and a moment later we ended up back in the center of the camp. It was a bit unsettling to say the least, but it did save us a lot of walking. We went back to the hunters' leader and told him we killed the monsters.

"So you take care of those little monsters? I have to hand it to you; you're stronger than you look," the leader complemented. "Thanks for dealing with that little problem. Say, can I ask you another favor? Some of my people are in desperate need of wool. Why don't you go and talk to the folk over there? They'll fill you in."

Sephiroth's attitude worsened slightly, not enough to be noticeable, but I could tell when someone's unhappy. Again, I let it slide since I thought it somehow involved Cloud. We met with the woman down the stairs and asked about her problem.

"I heard you took care of our monster infestation problem. I'm impressed," the woman praised. "Now that you've proven yourselves, I have another favor to ask of you. I need help collecting wool from the sheep wandering the plains. I appreciate whatever you can do to help. You'll come across some sheep bigger than the others. They're the ones you want. They have the best wool."

And so again we leave the camp to help the hunters out a bit and found a few sheep wandering just outside the hunters' walls. Sephiroth was kind enough to volunteer to cut the wool from the sheep, which seemed like the best option given the size and shape of Noel and Zack's swords. I was afraid that if anyone else did it they might've hurt the sheep. Afterwards, we returned and presented the wool.

"Thank you so much! The quality of this wool is amazing! Only the best hunters can run around these plains without a care in the world. Maybe, just maybe, you guys can save us from the peril hanging over our heads. Anyway, I hear you're looking into what's causing the storm. I don't know much, but I'll tell you what little I know. The storm only comes when it's really hot and sunny outside."

"What should we do then? Wait for the weather to change?" Noel suggested.

"There's a weather controlling device nearby. Just ask the woman upstairs for help."

As directed, we went upstairs to talk to the woman about the device next to her. She told us how to operate it and how the monsters change according to the weather. It was surprisingly oversimplified from what you'd expect from a machine that can change the weather.

There were two levers on opposite sides of the machine and two positions for each lever, which means we only had four choices to how we could change the weather. And depending on what setting we change it to powerful monsters may show up. Noel pushed both levers in the down position and a moment later the storm disappeared and the skies were clear with the sun shining brightly overhead.

"Hey," the hunter chief called. "We've learned what's behind that storm. There's a monster prowling the grasslands that's taking all the flan. The beast is massive! It can swallow dozens of flan! And when it does, it kicks up that storm we've been seeing!"

Sephiroth chuckled slightly. "Amazing. How these people never thought to use that device to ascertain the origin of the storm or at the very least subside it is simply astonishing."

"A beast that can swallow dozens of flan in one go?" Serah pondered. "Is everyone thinking what I'm thinking?"

"If there are flan here I'll bet that there's some connection to the giant flan back in Sunleth." Noel answered.

"Maybe the flan that are being swallowed by the monster here are being sent through time to Sunleth."

"It's a definite possibility."

"So we should go check it out, right?"

"Look." Noel pointed to the faeryl monster out on the grasslands. It was sucking up dozens of little flan into its mouth, but it didn't look like it was eating them. It looked like they were getting sucked into a vortex. "There's no other explanation. They're being sucked into a time rift."

"And then they're reappearing back at Sunleth."

"Right. If we can take down this beast, we can stop the giant flan from getting any bigger."

"All right!" Zack shouted. "Let's take down Ugly and save Cocoon's pillar!"

Zack ran off followed by the rest of us toward the faeryl. Although the monster looked intimidating, I knew somewhere in my heart that this wasn't going to be a very difficult fight. But even so, I couldn't help get the feeling that something really bad was about to happen. I shook the feeling off and tried to concentrate on the fight ahead of us, because we have to save Cocoon.

~~~~~Zack's Point of View~~~~~

"Mealtime's over!" I shouted as I approached the monster.

I jumped up and hit it in the head with a single sword slash, cutting into its flesh. The monster growled at me, but didn't do anything afterwards. It just stared at me, which was kind of creepy. Usually if someone attacks you, you retaliate, yet this monster did nothing. Aerith and the others caught up to me and that's when the faeryl hit us with a gust of wind as it flew up into the air. It dove straight down at the ground and hit us with a shockwave. The impact almost felt like the spell Quake.

Noel, Serah, Aerith, and I started to fight the faeryl as it shot a flurry of Aero attacks at us. After it saw that its attacks weren't having much of an effect on us it unleashed an incredibly loud roar that brought all of us to our knees. Before we could recover it blew fire out of its mouth. Serah and Aerith quickly casted shell and really saved our butts. After Aerith healed us, Noel and I hopped onto its back and cut off its wings making it roar in pain. Immediately after we jumped down and impaled its head, finally killing the thing. The faeryl's body slowly evaporated into thin air and left an artefact floating down into Serah's hand.

"Do you think this will fix the paradox?" she asked.

"Yes," Noel answered. "Now let's head back, before Snow gets himself into more trouble."

"Why? Are you worried about him?"

"What? No. I just figured you'd be itching to see him again."

"If there's one thing I know about Snow, it's that he's as tough as a behemoth. I don't worry too much when he's off on his own."

"You know, I couldn't do what you two do. Staying apart and doing your own thing, even though you love each other. You never know when someone might disappear from your life. Take it from me, you have to make every moment count."

"That's not true," Aerith interrupted. "Zack disappeared from my life six years ago, but I didn't lose hope. I knew that one day he would come back to me. As long as you have hope anything can happen."

Noel chuckled and I couldn't help but smile too. "You're right. I believe we can change our fate. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here."

~~~~~Sephiroth's Point of View~~~~~

"So the fragment was causing the storm," Tifa noted. "The monster swallowed it by accident, but it kept working inside it."

"Precisely," I replied. "That's why it seemed as though the storm was coming right out of its mouth."

"Hey guys!" Zack shouted from afar. Tifa and I stood by the time gate we arrived here from and left the fight with the monster to Zack and the others while we discussed how, if ever, we were going to explain the situation with Cloud to them and how we plan to deal with him. "Why'd you leave us on our own? We could've used your help back there, you know. It would've made things much easier."

"Although true, if we had joined the fight you may not have gotten any action. I thought that after killing petty monsters and gathering wool you would jump at the chance to have a real fight."

"Well, I guess it's alright if you put it that way."

"Well seeing as how we have yet another artefact we should head back to Sunleth to see how that flan is doing." We traveled through the gate and reentered Sunleth a few moments later.

"Huh? Where's Snow?" Serah asked.

"I knew it. He's gone off to fight on his own," Noel answered.

We round the corner to the spot with the giant flan, but instead of the massive orange flan we once fought we were greeted with a smaller green flan and Snow kneeling down in front of it.

"Snow!" Serah said as she ran beside him. "That's enough."

"You really don't know when to quit!" Noel said.

Tifa and I stood back and let the others handle this fight as well. "Sephiroth," Zack said. "Promised me you'll tell me what happened between you guys and Cloud. This doesn't only involve you. Cloud was once my friend before. Don't leave me out of it." I nodded and he went to assist the others in the fight.

The fight was uneventful just as the previous one with the faeryl. Zack and the others finished it fairly quickly and Serah helped Snow to the ground after it was over.

"Looks like I needed the cavalry after all. Maybe going solo was a bad idea." Snow admitted.

"You knew you had no chance of winning. Why did you even try?" Noel asked.

"Fang and Vanille, I guess. I knew it was stupid. But the pillar is gettin' eaten away, bit by bit. I can't just stand by and watch. Not with those two in danger."

"You couldn't just sit still and wait for help, could you? Typical!"

"Hey, I do what I do, all right?"

"You're the worst of them all. I hate your kind! You think you're everyone's protector – everyone's _hero_ – but who do you save, really? Do you even realize how useless you are? Do you realize what you do to the people you're supposed to protect?"

"Now you wait just a damn minute. You've been looking after Serah. And back in your own time, you protected your village, and your friends. Am I wrong? Seems to me, you and I are pretty much the same."

"No! You… you don't get it. You don't know anything. You're wrong, we're not the same. I couldn't protect anyone."

"Noel… you know what, forget it. Maybe you're right. But you've gotta survive. Because if you don't, then neither will anyone you love. Listen, I'm sorry I charged in on my own."

"Snow."

"I guess what I'm sayin' is, you keep looking after Serah for me, okay?"

All of a sudden Snow began to become transparent. "Snow? What's happening?"

"My time is up."

"No, wait!" shouted Serah. "But we resolved the paradox!"

"Maybe that's the reason," I interjected. "The timeline is correcting itself. Things that don't belong in this era are disappearing. Snow is a contradiction. He comes from a past that no longer exists."

"No! Stop it! I won't let you go!" Serah hugged him tightly in her arms. My mind did what it pleased and showed me an image of me in Serah's place and Tifa in Snow's. And thanks to that, I was reminded of when Cloud almost took her away from me.

"Sorry, Serah. I can't be with you here." Snow's words had to hit hard. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"No! Please don't leave me! I can't lose you over and over."

"It'll be okay. Heroes never die."

"A l'Cie brand… but how?" Serah finally noticed the brand on Snow's arm.

"See ya." Snow's body faded away in a pillar of green light. The only thing left was the necklace he had around his neck. One identical to what Serah wore. I assume he bought them both for Serah and himself.

"Snow!"

"Is this is what it means to change time?" I asked myself.

"Why did he have the brand? Who made Snow a l'Cie? Why?"

"He might not have been forced," I reasoned. "Maybe it was something he asked for."

"Not in a million years! Who would be insane and stupid enough to do that?"

"What if you needed to protect someone? And you could only do that with the power of the l'Cie?"

"But, everyone knows what happens to l'Cie! Succeed or fail, they're doomed."

"Snow only cares about the people he's trying to protect," Noel reasoned. "Damn the consequences, damn himself. 'If it means helping my friends, I'll gladly become a l'Cie.' Sound like something he'd say?"

"And you… you hate him for that?"

"Yes, I hate him. But… I understand him, too."

"That's it. I've decided. Snow is always putting himself in danger trying to save others. So, I'm going to save him. When I became a l'Cie, he did everything he could to help me. Now, it's my turn. I swear, I won't stop until I find him again."

"Okay. And I'll make sure you do. He asked me to look after you, remember?"

When two people part and go their separate ways, their memories split as well. Some people wish they could go back and be together like before. Others look forward to the day they can meet again. Serah has chosen her path, but I wonder about Tifa. Does she wish she could go back to being friends with Cloud? Or has she put it all behind her and look toward the future?

"Cocoon should hold now, for a while longer at least. The rest we'll have to leave to Hope and the other researchers."

"Hey is that an artefact over there?" Tifa pointed to a platform behind us.

"We might be able to reach it, but that's not a problem for our buddy Mog, now is it?" Zack encouraged. Tifa hopped over the gap and retrieved the artefact for us before Zack could actually grab Mog. "That works too, I guess."

We headed for the unused gate we avoided earlier, closest to the four-way intersection after we first arrived in Sunleth. Tifa lifted the artefact and we entered the Historia Crux once more. A moment later it was as if we were kicked from the timeline yet again. I became slightly irritated when I scanned the area.

"Are we really back here again?"

"Aw. It's easy to get lost with you leap across time, Kupo," Mog explained.

"We can go back through the gate anytime. Let's take a breather," Noel suggested.

Although it would be more beneficial to continue our journey, I suppose there's no harm in taking a break. Zack and Aerith were exploring the ruins, Noel and Serah were talking amongst each other, and Tifa and I just sat in silence by the gate. Tifa has been sticking close to me for a while now ever since our encounter with Cloud. Does being around me make her feel safe?

"I guess you could say that," Tifa spoke suddenly. I quirked an eyebrow at her. Did I say that aloud by accident? "You were thinking why am I always so close to you."

"How did you-" I tried to ask.

"Call it a woman's intuition." The first one that was actually accurate. My applause, Tifa. "I just don't want what happened to Serah and Snow happen to me. I've lost too many people already."

"Even though it was all my-"

"Jenova did it." Tifa got up and paced slowly in front of me. "You're a kind person, Sephiroth. You protect what's important to you. You're like a rational Snow." I didn't appreciate being compared to Snow, but I appreciated the meaning behind it. "Sephiroth, do you remember when I said your life belongs to me until I forgive you?"

"Are you setting me free?"

"Protecting me and Zack for a year while running from Shinra, truly regretting what happened in Nibelheim, saving me from a fate Cloud tried to force on me, and protecting everyone else from him. I think it's obvious what I'm about to say. But before I do, promise me one thing."

"Anything."

"Promise me no matter what happens, even if Jenova separates us, even if we're far apart; you'll always protect me."

I walked over to her and embraced her from behind. "Tifa, I swear. No matter what happens I will always protect you."

"I'm glad. I forgive you, Sephiroth."

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**Author's Note**: Wooo, I'm back after two months. I hate the life of a fanfiction author. We update fast when the story starts and as it progresses we become slower with new chapters. I hate it. Anyway I really didn't feel like writing during the beginning of this chapter and I put it off for two months. I sucked it up and started writing the day before yesterday. So yeah.

Anyway I don't feel like I messed up this chapter, but if I did let me know with a pm and I'll go back and fix it. Leave a review if you feel like it.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the whole or any part of Final Fantasy or the characters involved in this story. This story is purely a work of fiction by a fan, hence the word "fanfiction."

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~~~~~Zack's Point of View~~~~~

Aerith and I came back from exploring the ruins after a while. We saw Noel and Serah hiding behind the crystal throne we passed earlier. It looked like they were spying on someone.

"Hey, what're you guys doing?" I asked.

Serah shushed me, pulled Aerith and I behind the throne too, and motioned us to look past it towards the gate. Is this for real? Sephiroth is hugging Tifa from behind, and Tifa's letting him do it. No struggle, no hostility… nothing. They're actually hugging. If I didn't know any better I'd say that they were… well never mind.

"Now there's something I thought I'd never see," Noel voiced.

"I'm happy for them," Aerith added. "They look kind of cute together, don't you think?"

"Come on, guys. It's not like they're actually dating or anything," I tried to convince myself. "I mean they were just at each other's throats the other day. And can you really see Sephiroth with a girlfriend? I mean, it just doesn't look right." It felt like I was a father trying to tear apart his son and his lover.

"Jeez, Zack. I was only teasing."

"O-of course. Haha." And now I feel like an idiot. "I mean, obviously. There's no way Tifa and Sephiroth could –"

"Could what?" Sephiroth interrupted. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up like they were being pulled. I was afraid that looking backwards and seeing that cold, hard glare might actually be enough to kill me. "Was there a team meeting concerning Tifa and I that we weren't invited to?"

"Uh…"

"Actually, yes. We were discussing how we could be more helpful to you if we ever came across Cloud again." Thanks Serah. You saved me.

"I appreciate the concern, but that won't be necessary. None of you have what it takes to fight an opponent such as him yet. Should he ever confront us again, I'll be the one to stop him."

"No way," I yelled. "He hurt all of us, right? That means we're all in this together. Or did you forget what the word 'team' means?"

"What's a team without teammates? I can't protect you while fighting him. This isn't like fighting the Shinra army, Zack. This is serious. We were allowed a few mistakes against rookies like them, but we're talking about someone with Jenova's power. One mistake will cost you your life."

"So it's better if you die while we run? That's not what the Sephiroth I know would say. No matter what we would always stick together and support each other. I thought you grew out of the solo act a long time ago."

"I was giving you time to adjust to being a 2nd Class SOLDIER again."

"What?"

"You must have realized it by now. Neither of us are the 1st Class SOLDIERs we used to be. Tifa is the only one who holds that position now. It should've been obvious in our fight with Caius."

"If that's true then why are you trying to fight Cloud alone?"

"Because I don't want to lose anyone important to me."

Everyone sat in silence for a while. I kind of get what Sephiroth is saying, but he's still being selfish. Even after all we've been through, he still feels like he's responsible and has to do everything by himself.

"I agree with Zack," Tifa said as she came down the stairs. "We started this journey as a team, which means we stay a team to the very end. Every battle we've won up until now was because of that reason. The only reason we lost to Cloud is because you tried to do everything by yourself, Sephiroth. I know it may still be a bit new to you, but could you put a little faith in your comrades?"

Sephiroth paused for a moment and then sighed.

"Well then I guess that settles it," Serah cheered. "Sephiroth will start trusting us more and we won't let each other down as teammates."

"Looks like it," Noel approved. "Well, come on, let's go. We've got a date with Lightning, remember?

Everyone nodded and we entered the gate at the front of the ruins. It didn't take long before we ended up at our next destination. The place we arrived at was incredible. You'd never see something like this on Gaia. The city we were in was enormous. Looking down below, we were probably miles above the ground. Vehicles were flying through the air. Technology here was so much more advanced than anything Shinra could come up with. This was beyond amazing.

"Wow. How do you build something like this?" Noel asked.

"A little bit at a time, I guess," Serah answered. "It probably took a lot of people working together over decades, maybe even centuries, to make this city what it is now."

"They had a vision for the future, and it grew from there, huh? You know what? I used to think the only way to make a better future was to change something right away, in the here and now. But creating something for people to build on, that's not a bad idea. Right? Even if it can't be completed in one lifetime, it's still worth starting. If you believe that someone in the next generation will take up the same ideal, then the dream lives on."

"That sounds like Hope's way."

"I wish she could've seen it."

"Yeul, you mean? She's very special to you, isn't she?"

"She was. But I couldn't protect her."

A tear ran down Noel's face as he answered. The girl that was with Caius in Oerba was Yeul, right? But we saw her alive and well on more than one occasion. What does he mean by he couldn't protect her? Shockingly, right when I thought about it my mind gave me one possible and very disturbing answer. Yeul may have been his one reason for living, and Caius may have taken her away from Noel, just as Cloud had almost taken Tifa from us. Tifa and Sephiroth glanced toward each other, which made me wonder if we all had the same theory. Even Aerith and I glanced at each other.

All of a sudden red lights started flashing everywhere and people began to turn into monsters. Everyone drew their weapons and fought off the monsters that surrounded us, but it didn't feel right. I looked around and saw that more and more people were transforming into these things. There was literally no end in sight. Sephiroth found an escalator where we could escape and we entered some sort of safe zone a few paces away from the top of it.

"Who did this?" I asked.

"Not a human. Only fal'Cie have the power," Serah answered.

"Threat level 'Sigma.' All sections of Academia on high alert," a computer voice announced.

"What threat?" Noel asked. "I hope they're not talking about us."

"The bots must see us as intruders," Serah thought.

"That can't be good. We should look for a way to slip through."

"This terminal's on. Shall we do some snooping?"

"Snoop away. We can't fight back if we don't know what we're facing."

While Serah and Noel were busy gathering info Aerith and Tifa went to go comfort the few people who were inside the barrier with us.

"We have more company. Zack, care to give me a hand?" Sephiroth offered. Right at the edge of the barrier were more of those monsters, just waiting for us to come out. Even though we were in a bad situation I couldn't help but smile. "You two stay here with the civilians while Zack and I clear a path. Join us after Serah and Noel finish gathering intel."

Sephiroth and I took out the monsters, but then we saw a few bots guarding a path. They were on the wrong side of the wall to be defending us so we took care of them and continued onward. They seemed to be gatekeepers so we kept taking out everything that wasn't human and cleared a path. We made it up some stairs and a bulkier version of the normal monsters suddenly appeared along with a group of the thinner ones. Although it was bigger, it was still just as easy to take out.

"This is getting us nowhere," Sephiroth said as he raised his hands. "We concede. Now how about you show yourself?"

"Pretend to capitulate and buy yourself time. It's not a bad strategy," Caius commented as he approached from behind us.

"Of course it was you. You have no reason to fight us so why –"

"Wrong. You are the enemy. You are contradictions in the timeline. I have every reason to eliminate you. Two hundred years ago, you learned the forbidden history, and were entombed in that tower as a consequence. But now you stand before me, alive and well once again. What can that be, if not a paradox?"

"Towers and forbidden histories? What's he talking about? Could it be something from the future?" I asked.

"Possibly. Perhaps at some point we travel two hundred years before this time, and encounter Caius there," Sephiroth guessed. "But I don't plan on dying by his hand."

"There is no mistake," Caius confirmed. "You are one and the same. A distortion. A contradiction."

"If that's the case, then why not challenge us now? Tifa, the woman who bested you previously, is absent at the moment."

"A fitting sacrifice was required for you to comprehend your transgressions. To that end, I enlisted some… assistance."

Caius summoned another group of monsters and walked away, leaving us to deal with them. As usual, Sephiroth and I took them out in a few seconds, but neither of us saw where Caius had gone.

"Threat level 'Omega.'" There goes that computer voice again. "Spacetime stability at risk. Exterminating Academia citizenry."

"What? Are they really going to kill everyone? Why? Is Caius doing this?" I was starting to get really angry. Governments are supposed to protect their people, not kill them for their own benefit.

"Calm down, Zack," Sephiroth ordered.

"Hey!" Noel called as he and the others ran up to us. "You heard it too, right? Why would they do that?"

"Cocoon's fal'Cie were like that too," Serah mentioned. "They wouldn't think twice about sacrificing human life."

"So what are we going to do?"

"First let's figure out where Caius fled and help anyone we find along the way," Sephiroth proposed.

"Wait. Did you say Caius? He's here? Is he the one doing this?"

"Take a look down there." Sephiroth motioned toward the street below the balcony we were on. The monsters were attacking innocent people and some were even transformed into them. "Those people are suffering because of us. That means we're the only ones who can save them. The longer we stand here asking questions, the longer they will endure this torment. As I said earlier, Zack, Serah, Noel, and I will go through the city searching for Caius and help anyone we can along the way. Those we do save will be sent back to Tifa and Aerith in the barricade for further protection. Any objections?"

"How will we know if you run into trouble and need help?" Tifa asked.

"Mog will return and notify you."

"Leave it to me, Kupo," Mog cheered. "I'll watch after them."

"Then we're set. Let us make haste."

With that Sephiroth, Serah, Noel, and I went to the streets below and continued defeating monsters and rescuing civilians. Once we had a group of about six citizens, Noel would lead them back to Tifa and Aerith, and then come back to help us. Every so often we would see Caius standing somewhere far away, but he would disappear before we can ever get close and end up fighting a big group of monsters. Eventually we came to a place where we were shut inside a barricade and a group of flying monsters ambushed us. They took longer to kill than the normal ones, but still were no real threat. But they just kept coming until we saw a little girl get surrounded by them.

"Yeul, no!" Noel shouted as we all ran toward her. "Get away from her!" We made short work of the rest of them and Noel rushed to Yeul's side to check on her. "Are you okay?"

She didn't respond as Noel helped her up. But before anyone even realized what had happened, Yeul was stabbed in the back by tentacles from a monster on a nearby roof and thrown across the street. Everyone looked at Noel as he stood motionless for a moment, but as soon as the monster made its way down to the street he screamed and ran full speed at it, drawing his weapons.

Even though I don't know Yeul personally, what that monster did was unforgivable. I can imagine the pain and rage Noel's going through right now; to have someone close to you taken away right before your eyes so suddenly. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got, and pretty soon I found myself screaming at it too. There was no way we were going to let it get away with this.

~~~~~Sephiroth's Point of View~~~~~

That girl had no affiliation with any of us with the exception of Noel, yet she was killed simply because we tried to help her. She was precious in his eyes and in an instant she was taken from him. As someone who had almost met the same fate, I greatly sympathized with him and wanted more than anything at the moment to kill that thing. Zack, Serah, and I prepared ourselves and charged in to help Noel.

The monster dug its tentacles into the ground and the area around it sprouted more tentacles, acting as a defensive stance. Noel and Zack were trying to cut through, but to no avail. My own attacks were having no effect on its defense either. Even Serah's area-wide attacks such as firaga and blizzaga were having no effect at all. I retreated a little to access its weak point and noticed a few smaller tentacles were casting spells on the rest of the party. Shortly after cutting them down the monster retracted its defensive stance and we were able to fight it head on.

It wasn't much of a threat now. It simply attacked haphazardly and predictably. We were able to dodge its attacks easily and counter with a barrage of our own. In just a few short moments we had gotten it to fall to its knees and Noel withdrew his weapons, running straight for Yeul. I knew he was concerned for her, but it was still foolish to leave an enemy before the battle is finished. Almost as if on cue, a sharp tentacle jutted from the ground and would have impaled Noel's skull if not for his sharp reflexes. More followed and Noel continued to dodge them until Serah and Zack cut the arms off the monster. Immediately after, Noel jumped on, stabbed the red center of its chest, and once again ran straight for Yeul.

This is a moment I would rather not be a part of. Yeul was going to die and we knew magic was not going to change that. I had no attachment to her and was not fond of melancholy farewells. I left to regroup with Tifa and Aerith and bring them back to the others. My heart sank as I thought back to the struggle with Cloud; how I could've lost Tifa to him just as Noel had lost Yeul. I knew deep down that that was the real reason behind my leaving. I didn't want to be reminded of it, but the more I tried not to think about it, the more obvious it became.

"Sephiroth!" Tifa exclaimed.

"It seems you had things under control here," I assumed.

"Yeah, though it looks like people outside this barrier are still being turned into those monsters."

"Then we should leave as soon as possible. Zack and the others should be waiting at the time gate by now. We should join them so that these people no longer have to suffer."

The girls assured the citizens that they would be safe and bid them a farewell before allowing me to lead them to the rest of the party. Arriving back at the spot where we defeated the monster that killed Yeul, Zack was waiting for our return.

"Serah and Noel are waiting at the gate. We should go," he said.

"What about Caius?" Aerith asked. "Didn't you say you saw him?"

"Yeul said he wasn't in the city."

"You mean he escaped after sending those monsters after us?" I asked.

"I don't know. But I don't think he was even in the city to begin with. I don't know who that person we saw was, but it just didn't feel like that was the real Caius."

"We'll worry about that later. Right now we need to get out of this city." Zack took us to the gate where Serah and Noel were and I noticed the artefact Noel was holding.

"An artefact from Yeul," he clarified.

"Well then, shall we be off?"

We offered the artefact to the gate and passed through it, continuing to our next destination. While traveling through the Historia Crux Zack approached me and asked a question I really didn't want to hear.

"It's been long enough Sephiroth, and we have time now. So tell me: what happened with Cloud while Noel and I were away?"

I was trying to forget that skirmish and right as I was about to find something else to occupy my mind, he has to bring it up. I didn't say a word, though. I just silently stood there, wishing we could somehow speed up this trip to arrive at our next destination.

"Answer me Sephiroth. You can't keep running from this forever."

"Oh? If keeping information from others is 'running away' then why am I the only one being targeted? Everyone has a past that is painful for them to reveal. I am no exception," I retorted.

"Because we're friends. Ever since we escaped with Tifa from that lab we've been the only ones we can trust. We've shared our pain, our embarrassment, or weaknesses. Is this really something you need to hide from me?"

"Hide? You honestly think I'm hiding it? Your mother and father are gone. That Turk woman is gone. Gaia, your home, is gone. And your best friend, Cloud, is the one responsible for taking it all. No one wants to be reminded of a tragedy. Is it not a pleasure to forget such pain? Talking about it only reopens the wound."

"And having someone with you who shares that pain seals it shut," Tifa argued. "The more about each other we know the better, right?"

Does it really take Tifa's words alone to persuade me to do anything? I sighed and proceeded to tell Zack and Noel everything that happened. How Cloud had almost taken Tifa away; how she had fought against us, even after learning of everything he did; how we had nearly died; and how Jenova's power had grown.

"Sounds like that was quite the battle," Noel said after hearing everything. "But how did all of that happen when we left through the time only a few moments after you did?"

"You came out of the gate long after Sephiroth did, Kupo," Mog said. "The gate may have sent you a few minutes behind Sephiroth, Kupo."

"Can time gates do that? Send people who were only seconds behind even farther back?" Zack asked.

"I don't know," Noel answered. "Maybe we weren't meant to be a part of that battle and the gate held us until it was over, even though it only felt like a few seconds."

"In any event, that was what happened. Cloud is a serious threat and should, under no circumstances, be approached alone," I admonished.

"So I guess splitting up to cover more ground is off limits, huh?" Aerith asked.

"Not necessarily. I just thought it best that we stay in a relatively fair radius of each other. As long as we can reach each other quickly it should be fine."

"Well if we're being careful, then I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to learn a few spells, now would it? You and Zack are the only ones who don't know magic," Serah denoted.

While it's true we have no magical attacks, we've rarely even used anything other than cure spells back on Gaia. But assuming how much of a threat Cloud is, learning advanced spells could prove to be beneficial. We didn't have much time to even get started on learning the basics of using magic without the use of materia as we had already arrived at the next destination of our journey.

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**Author's Note: **I wonder if anyone would be mad if I said I purposely waited until Tifa's birthday (May 3) to post a new chapter. Hmm. Oh well. Anyway, leave a review if you feel like it.


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